CARBONDALE, Ill. - Julie DePolo went 5-for-7 at the plate and drove in two base runners in Western Illinois' two loses against SIU-Edwardsville, 5-3 (8), and Wisconsin, 4-2, in the Coach B Classic Saturday afternoon.

"Julie played lights out today," said Western Illinois head coach Holly Van Vlymen. "She was confident, saw the ball well at the plate and had good at bats. Defensively, she wanted the ball and she was talking to her teammates all game and I hope she can carry the momentum into tomorrow's games."

Game 1: SIU-Edwardsville 5, Western Illinois 3 (8)

The Cougars (12-4) scored three runs in the eighth inning to defeat the Westerwinds (4-8), 5-3, in the first game of the tournament.

The game remained scoreless through the first three innings until junior Lauren Zembruski hit a home run over the left field fence, giving the Courgars its first run of the game in the top of the fourth. Lindsay Longfellow scored the second run of the inning on a Christina Signore RBI to second base, pushing their lead to two.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Westerwinds retaliated when sophomore Nikki Marinec hit a single to right field. Julie DePolo then hit a triple to right-center field, scoring Marinec to give Western its first run of the game. The Westerwinds tied the game at two apiece when sophomore Michelle Neubauer reached first base on a fielder's choice, scoring DePolo from third. Junior Lauren Furgala struck out to end the scoring rally for the Westerwinds, finishing the inning tied at two.

Marinec and DePolo both recorded a hit in the sixth inning, giving the Westerwinds another opportunity to score, but a Furgala ground out to second base and an Ashley Beard strikeout ended the inning.

The Westerwinds out hit the Cougars, 10-5, but were unable to get more than three runners across home plate as they left eight runners on base in the game.

Pankratz (1-4) picked up the loss, throwing nine strikeouts and only walking two batters in eight innings of work.

Leading the Westerwinds offense was DePolo as she went 4-for-4 from the plate with two RBIs. Jamie Goss and Marinec also chipped in with two hits apiece. 

Game 2: Wisconsin 4, Western Illinois 2

The Badgers (6-13) used a three run bottom of the fifth inning to defeat the Westerwinds (4-9) in Western's second game of the tournament, 4-2.

In the top of the fourth, Western was able to get on the scoreboard first as sophomore Colleen Biebel started the two-run inning with a single to the Badger short stop. After a Goss and Erin Schlotfeldt ground out, freshman Ashley Campbell hit her first career home run to left field, making the score 2-0 in favor of Western. Marinec continued the hitting streak as she doubled to left field, but was unable to score as DePolo lined out to right field the following at bat to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Badgers picked up three hits of its own and scored a run on a Karla Powell RBI single to center field, cutting the Westerwinds lead to one.

Campbell led the Western offense as she went 1-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs and was one of five Westerwinds to record a hit in the game.

Picking up the loss from the pitching circle was senior Kamren Ferguson as she recorded four strikeouts and allowed four earned runs.

"Our pitchers did great job," said Van Vlymen. "Lori (Pankratz) and Kamren (Ferguson) both pitched great games. Nikki (Marinec) did a great job of catching, throwing people out who were stealing and calling a good game for Kamren. We fought to the end in both games and the girls showed that when they picked up some hits in the sixth and seventh innings. The girls are playing with passion and not just rolling over when they get down and I am proud of them for it."

The Westerwinds face SIU-Edwardsville at 2 p.m. and No. 18/23 Southern Illinois at 4 p.m. in day two of the Coach B Classic on Sunday, March 8, at Charlotte West Stadium.