ROSEMONT, Ill. -  Western Illinois used a strong performance in the circle from all three pitchers and some timely hitting to come away with two victories to open up the 2014 season on Saturday (Feb. 8).  The Leathernecks defeated Loyola 7-1 in the first game before coming from behind to defeat Drake 10-4.

"I thought the offense was good," said head coach Holly Van Vlymen. "We got runs when we needed to, we had good at bats for the most part. We had a couple of things we need to work on. I wanted them to focus on waiting for their pitch. Once they settled in and looked for their pitch they were a lot better an that happened in game two more than game one."

Kacyee Hart got the nod against Loyola and took full advantage of the opportunity, limiting the Ramblers to one run on two hits in her five innings of work.

"I thought she did a great job," Van Vlymen said. "I was so happy with her demeanor, with her presence, everything. She just did a phenomenal job. She got out of some tight jams. I was really proud of tonight."

The Western offense got on the board early when Sammy Marshall and Lia Romeo reached in the first inning. After Briana Williams laid down a sacrifice bunt, Megg Kelly stepped into the box with two outs and crushed her first home run of the season and 16th of her career, giving Western an early 3-0 advantage.

Loyola responded with one in the bottom half of the first inning due to an error, but Kacyee Hart went into cruise control 11 straight Ramblers.

The Leatherneck offense picked back up in the fourth when Karissa Kouchis singled in Monica Rondón, who led the inning off with an infield single. Western added three more insurance runs in the sixth, taking advantage of a pair of Rambler defensive miscues.

Kayla Kirkpatrick made her Leatherneck debut in the sixth inning in relief of Hart. Kirkpatrick retired the final six batter to give Western Illinois the 7-1 victory.

"Kayla did a great job," Van Vlymen added. "Six batter, six outs -- that's exactly what you want out of your relief pitcher. She got ground balls, she got the ball to our defense and she challenged the hitters"

The second game of the day started off as good as it could when Sammy Marshall hit her third career inside-the-park home run to lead off the game for Western. Teagan Walsh would then single and come around to score on a Megg Kelly single.

After retiring the first three batters, Hailey Bickford and the Leatherneck defense struggled in the second inning, allowing four Drake Bulldogs to cross the plate.

The Purple and Gold went right back to work offensively in the bottom half of the second, tying the game at four with a two out rally, started by a Marshall walk.

Western pulled away late thanks to a pair of clutch base hits by Walsh, extending the Leatherneck advantage to 8-4 in the fifth and 10-4 in the sixth.

Bickford picked up her first victory since 2012, allowing four runs on four hits.

"She did a great job," Van Vlymen said. "It wasn't her top performance and pitches weren't up to her liking but she did a great job. She battled, she challenged the hitters and she threw hard. I was excited to see her out there."

Holly Hoelting picked up her first collegiate hit while Nina Maggio scored her first collegiate run in the victory against Drake.

"We have a ton of depth," Van Vlymen added. "We can go to our bench for pinch runners or pinch hitters for different things that we haven't had in the past. I was really excited to have them with us this year."

The Leathernecks continue play in the Rosemont Rumble Sunday (Feb 9) against Eastern Illinois (9 a.m.) and Illinois-Chicago (11:30 p.m.).