CEDAR CITY, Utah - Western Illinois scored five runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to cap off an 11-7 come-from-behind victory at Southern Utah on Saturday, March 19.
The Fighting Leathernecks (7-12, 4-2) fell behind early as the Thunderbirds (9-16, 4-2) plated six runs in the first two innings to take a commanding lead.
Southern Utah got on the board first when Darleen Fernandez lined a two-run double to left field. Her hit was followed up by an RBI double off the bat of Katie Olinger two batters later to give the Thunderbirds a 3-0 lead.
The Leathernecks would place runners at third base in each of the first three innings but were unable to push a run across.
Southern Utah would strike again in the second inning as three runs came across on Haylee Hoch's double to left to make it 6-0 in favor of the Thunderbirds.
Western Illinois would storm back to the game in the top of the fourth with six runs on five hits. Kelsey Michelini reached on an error to start the inning before two consecutive singles loaded the bases with no outs.
Nikki Marinec's single to right plated two runs before Colleen Biebel's RBI single made it 6-3. Jamie Goss tied the game with a one-out, three-run homer to center field two batters later.
"I'm very proud of this team," said head coach Holly Van Vlymen. "This team always plays with heart and never gives up. All three of our games against Southern Utah could have gone either way and for us to get down early in the final game and come back could be a real turning point in our season."
Southern Utah regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Fernandez brought home a run with a two-out single.
Hailey Bickford grounded out to start the top of the seventh before Emma Jarrell drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on Michelle Prieto's single up the middle.
Marinec singled to load the bases with just one out, but the Thunderbirds threw Jarrell out at home on a fielder's choice in Colleen Biebel's at-bat.
With the Leathernecks trailing 7-6, Beth Golitko stepped to the plate with two outs and lined a bases-clearing double to center to give the Leathernecks a 9-7 lead.
Goss and Megan Kelly hit back-to-back RBI doubles to extend the lead to 11-7 and give Western the win as Bickford sat down Southern Utah in order in the bottom of the inning.
"Our freshmen have played really well," said Van Vlymen. "Meg Kelly has been one of our clutch hitters and Hailey's really been tough out there in the circle. I thought Emma came up really big for us today as well."
Bickford (2-2) earned the win by allowing just one hit in 1.2 scoreless innings in relief. She did not issue a walk and recorded two strikeouts.
Bubba Kearns (1-2) took the loss for Southern Utah. Kearns allowed five runs on eight hits in 3.0 innings of work.
Goss led the Leathernecks with four RBI in a 3-for-4 effort at the dish. Golitko was 2-for-5 with three RBI and Marinec was 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs. Prieto went 3-for-4 with two runs as seven different Leathernecks scored.
Western Illinois outhit Southern Utah 18-to-11 and committed one error to the Thunderbirds' two. The Leathernecks left 10 runners on base while Southern Utah stranded nine.
The Leathernecks finished their six-game, week-long road trip with a 2-4 record, pounded out 64 hits and scored 39 runs.
"This is a difficult road trip with all the travel and the amount of games" said Van Vlymen. "The ball sails a little more out here and the trip itself is tiring but we're really thankful that we had great places to stay when were able to rest.
"The Hampton Inn in Tempe, the Holiday Inn on Palos Verdas in Las Vegas and the Crystal Inn in Cedar City were all great to us and had beautiful accommodations, which is really important during these long trips."
Western Illinois returns to action with a doubleheader against Wichita State at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23 at Mary Ellen McKee Stadium.
