FARGO, N.D. – Western Illinois entered the sixth inning down five runs before rallying to beat the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, 12-8, in the opening round of The Summit League Tournament. With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning, senior Holly Hoelting smashed a walk-off grand slam over the center field fence to eliminate SDSU on Wednesday (May 10). Prior to Hoelting's game-winner, relief pitcher Payton Abbott opened the seventh with a game-tying solo home run.
"I'm really proud of our girls," said head coach Holly Van Vlymen. "We knew it was going to be a tough game today since we just played a 3-game series with (South Dakota State) last weekend. They are a great team. They had great pitching and their hitters fought, so we just talked about coming through when we needed to come through."
The Leathernecks improved to 21-30 overall after the victory and advance to face No. 2 North Dakota State Thursday (May 11) at 2:30 p.m. SDSU concludes its season with a 19-35 overall mark.
After two scoreless innings, South Dakota State opened up the scoring in the top of the third inning with a 2-out rally that resulted in a 4-0 lead. First the Jacks' Brittney Morse hit a 2-run double with two outs, and then SDSU's Mallory McQuistan drilled a 2-run shot the very next at-bat.
With two outs in the bottom half of the third, First Team All-Summit League infielder Kelsey Marlow hit a solo homer to center field with two outs to cut the Leathernecks' deficit to three, 4-1, through three complete innings.
The Jackrabbits quickly responded with two more runs in the top of the fourth thanks to another hit with two outs. Ali Herdliska ripped a 2-run single to center field to make it 6-1 in favor of SDSU.
WIU added a run in the bottom of the fourth and another in the bottom of the fifth, cutting its deficit to three, 6-3. Messer hit a solo shot over the right field fence in the fourth before Halle Hollatz hit an RBI single in the fifth.
Another 2-run home run in the sixth inning from the Jackrabbits extended their lead to five again, 8-3, before the Leathernecks began their comeback.
In its half of the sixth, Marlow's hot hitting continued when she hit an RBI triple and then scored on an illegal pitch to make it 8-5 in favor of SDSU. Hailey Duwa, who was tabbed First Team All-League, then blasted a 2-run homer with two outs to make it an 8-7 game.
After the Jacks went down in order in the top of the seventh, Abbott hit her fourth home run of the season, a game-tying solo shot to center field. The Leathernecks then loaded up the bases after Sam Ralphs singled and both Nina Maggio and Marlow walked.
With two outs, Hoelting stepped up to the plate and drilled her eighth home run of the season, a walk-off grand slam to send Western into the second round of the league championships.
"(Our team) has been my cardiac kids all year… saving the best for last. So I'm just really proud of them, and really proud of our seniors as they really came through when we needed them to come through today," concluded Van Vlymen.
Marlow finished the game a single short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a double, triple, home run and a walk. She also recorded two RBIs and scored a team-best four runs.
Hoelting, Duwa, Hollatz and Ralphs each finished with two hits. Hoelting led the team with four RBIs, while Duwa batted in two runs.
All together the Leathernecks finished with five home runs courtesy of Hoelting, Duwa, Abbott, Marlow and Messer.
Summit League Pitcher of the Year Emily Ira gave up six runs on eight hits in four innings of work before Abbott entered the game. Abbott, who improved to 4-6 on the year, surrendered two runs on four hits and struck out four with walking any Jacks.
SDSU had five Jacks recording two hits apiece. Ashlyn Bender suffered the loss (11-15) for the Jackrabbits in the circle.
The winner of the No. 3 Western Illinois and No. 2 North Dakota State advances to the semifinals, while the loser will face the loser of No. 1 IUPUI and No. 4 South Dakota at 5 p.m. Thursday (May 11) in an elimination game.
