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Sarah Twidwell

Softball Sets Sights on Summit League Championship

| By: WIU Athletic Communications

The third-seeded Leathernecks square off against sixth-seeded Purdue Fort Wayne in the opening round hosted by North Dakota State

FARGO, N.D. - The Western Illinois softball team opens the 2019 Summit League Championship as the No. 3 seed against No. 6 Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday (May 8) at 5:30 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois (20-19, 12-6) softball outlasted Omaha (4-43, 2-16) by a score of 8-6 on Sunday (May 5) to complete its third consecutive sweep. The Purple and Gold have won nine straight games, the longest winning streak since the 2012 season.
 
The Leathernecks had to play from behind after Jamie White clubbed a two-run homer over the fence in left field for an early 2-0 Omaha lead. Western took the lead without even recording a hit in the top of the third. After the bases loaded up, Payton Abbott was hit by a pitch to get the visitors on the board. Back-to-back bases-loaded walks were issued to Danielle Olson and Hailey Duwa as WIU move ahead 3-2.
 
A four-run fourth inning helped Western gain some separation. Halle Hollatz singled through the left side of the infield to bring home Payton Abbott. With the bases loaded again, Aly Compton smoked a grounder that found its way into left field as a pair of runs scored for a 7-2 advantage.
 
White hit her second two-run long ball of the contest in the bottom of the fifth as the Mavericks hung around. The Leathernecks responded on a Compton single to score Olson for an extra insurance run in the top of the sixth inning.
 
Trailing 8-4, Omaha did not roll over in its season finale. After the Mavericks plated a run on a single, Savannah Rodriguez (1-3) loaded the bases by hitting a batter, prompting WIU to make a pitching change. Rodriguez struck out six over 5.1 innings of work en route to her first collegiate win. Abby Carlin walked White as the deficit was trimmed to 8-6, but limited the damage the rest of the way for her second save of the season.

PRESEASON HONORS: Emily Ira and Hailey Duwa were both honored as Summit League 'Players to Watch' at the beginning of the 2019 season. 
 
WALK THIS WAY: Jasmine Lara currently ranks 10th all-time in Western Illinois program history with 59 career walks.
 
WWWWWWWWWestern Illinois: WIU softball has won nine games in a row and has taken four consecutive series. Last year from March 30 to April 21, the Leathernecks won eight straight games. The last time, the Leathernecks won 10 games in a row was during the 2012 season.
 
SUMMIT LEAGUE PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Abby Carlin was named the Summit League Pitcher of the Week, the league announced on Monday, May 6. It marks Carlin's first career Pitcher of the Week honor.
 
Carlin recorded her fifth complete game of the season while striking out three batters in a 10-5 victory over Omaha on Saturday (May 4), but only two of those runs were earned. Her ERA sits at 3.49 over 80.1 innings of work with a pair of saves on the year.
 
After winning her third consecutive start, Carlin was summoned to pitch the final 1.2 innings to seal the sweep against Omaha.
 
IMPRESSIVE IRA: Emily Ira earned her eighth career Summit League Pitcher of the Week honor after securing two wins off complete games with 20 strikeouts and a save in a sweep of North Dakota April 19-20.
 
600 AND NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN: Ira is just the third Leatherneck to ever register 600 strikeouts (Holly Van Vlymen - 880, Kameren Ferguson - 763) as she has recorded 657 career strikeouts and counting. Ira currently ranks fourth in WIU program history with 610.2 innings pitched and in complete games (62).  
 
THANK U, NEXT: Emily Ira has led Western in strikeouts every year since she arrived in Macomb as a freshman. The senior leads off of NCAA Division I in strikeout-to-walk ratio, sitting down 8.87 batters per each one she walks as of Tuesday, May 7. Ira has struck out 133 batters as she ranks second in the Summit League this season. The Iowa City native also ranks 86th in the nation with 7.1 strikeouts per seven innings pitched.
 
DUWA HITS DINGERS: Hailey Duwa has currently 18 career home runs and is tied for sixth in program history. One more could propel her into a tie for fourth all-time and 21 is the mark for second place.
 
BEEN CAUGHT STEALING: Meghan Henson has thrown out 11 runners attempting to steal, which ranks fifth in The Summit League. 
 
THE TOP HALF: Since participating in a conference in 1984, Western has only finished lower than third in the final standings on eight occasions.  
 
CLUTCH: Danielle Olson went 5-for-9 at the plate with six RBI in Western's series sweep at North Dakota (April 19-20).  In fact, she drove in all three runs of the 3-2 series-closing victory. As a team, the Leathernecks went 6-for-8 at the plate with the bases loaded during the three-game set at North Dakota.
 
Olson followed that performance with a 4-for-10 showing at the plate with eight RBI in a sweep over Omaha (May 4-5) that included her first collegiate home run. She has recorded 16 of her 18 RBI in Summit League play.
 
CONSISTENT SPOTS IN THE ORDER: Although head coach Beth Golitko has tinkered with her batting order throughout the season, Jasmine Lara has hit leadoff in all 39 games. Hailey Duwa has batted out of the cleanup spot in all 39 contests as well. 

SCOUTING THE MASTODONS: Purdue Fort Wayne enters the weekend with an 9-37 overall record and finished Summit League play at 3-15. The Mastodons snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over Oakland Lauren Watson has been consistent at the dish with a team-best .327 batting average. Morganne Denny leads her squad in home runs (4) and RBI (24). Shaina Eyre had logged the most innings (128.0) and owns the lowest ERA (4.05) on the squad but has been saddled with a 2-15 record in the circle so far.
 
Germaine Fairchild is in her fifth season at the helm of the Mastodons with a 54-193 mark. She previously led the Fairleigh Dickinson and Quinnipiac softball programs before her arrival to the Summit City.  
 
HISTORY AGAINST PURDUE FORT WAYNE: Western Illinois leads the all-time series 30-11 and has taken eight of the last 10 matchups from the Mastodons including a series sweep in Macomb this season.
 
The Leathernecks edged the Mastodons 3-2 in game one of a doubleheader on April 26 followed by a thriller in game two. Western surrendered the late lead and trailed 4-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Aly Compton delivered the walk-off hit to the gap for a 5-4 victory. After trailing 3-0 on Senior Day (April 27), WIU rattled off nine unanswered runs to clinch the regular season sweep.
 
ON DECK: The winner of the first-round contest takes on No. 2 seed South Dakota at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday (May 9) at Tharaldson Park inside the Ellig Sports Complex.
 
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