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Softball Action vs South Dakota 700.4736
Sarah Ritter
3
Winner Western Illinois WIU 3-1
0
Bowling Green BGSU 2-3
Winner
Western Illinois WIU
3-1
3
Final
0
Bowling Green BGSU
2-3
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Western Illinois WIU 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 7 0
Bowling Green BGSU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0

W: Rodriguez, Savannah (3-0) L: YOUNG, Madi (0-1)

1
Detroit Mercy DETMERCY 0-5
2
Winner Western Illinois WIU 4-1
Detroit Mercy DETMERCY
0-5
1
Final
2
Western Illinois WIU
4-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Detroit Mercy DETMERCY 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 1
Western Illinois WIU 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 6 1

W: Price, Emily (1-1) L: Olivia Warrington (0-3)

Game Recap: Softball | | WIU Athletic Communications

WIU Softball Finishes 4-1 on Opening Weekend

Several players stepped up with key situational performances as Western finished 2-0 on Sunday.

CHICAGO, Ill. – Western Illinois softball concluded its opening weekend of the 2023 regular season on Sunday (Feb. 12), defeating Bowling Green and Detroit Mercy by a combined score of 5-1 at the Rosemont Dome. After finishing 2-4 in the same exact tournament on opening weekend last season, Western Illinois concludes this year's tournament with a 4-1 record that was fueled by quality performances from many different players.
 
"I am so incredibly proud of our opening weekend. The first thing that needs to be addressed is our pitching. The staff and Coach Collin Hopkins were well-prepared and executed their plans, and our defense handled routine plays well while even managing to make a few highlight plays that were good enough to be on ESPN," head coach Alisa Goler said. "We got positive offensive output from a lot of people, ranging from starters to successful pinch hitting and pinch runners.
 
"For our team to be at its best this season we need our entire roster to embrace their roles in any moment and this weekend we set the bar high for that moving forward," Goler added.
 
Game 1: WIU 3, Bowling Green 0
Savannah Rodriguez got her first start since throwing a perfect game against Detroit Mercy on Friday and continued to pitch extremely well, as she went all seven innings and threw yet another shutout. In 98 pitches, Rodriguez allowed just three hits and had yet another double-digit strikeout performance with 11 on the day, bringing her weekend total to 25 strikeouts in just three games.
 
Kaylee Ketcherside led off the game with a walk and, after advancing to second on a groundout, was driven in by Rodriguez, who smacked a two-run shot to left for her first homer of the season. Cynthia Hull added an RBI single in the sixth inning to score Alivia Beard and seal the 3-0 victory. Western had seven different players combine for all seven hits while finishing with no defensive errors for the third time in the first four games.
 
Game 2: WIU 2, Detroit Mercy 1
Game two saw Emily Price get her second start of the weekend, and the Charleston, Ill., native built off the success of her previous outing with another complete-game performance. Price held the Titans to no hits through the first three innings and, though Detroit Mercy did add one run in the fourth, continued to control the game and limited opposing hitters to just one run. She finished the game having allowed five hits and one earned run while walking one and striking out six.
 
Western's offense was able to put runners on base early in the game but weren't able to convert, though that didn't matter. With Price keeping the game within a single run, several players came up with crucial plays to secure the victory. Cynthia Hull pinch-hit to lead off the seventh inning and singled to short and advanced one base after a Megan Leonard sacrifice bunt. With a runner on second, Ketcherside hit a triple to center field that scored Hull and left a runner on third with one out, 60 feet away from a victory.
 
Up stepped Rylee Boone, who hit a ball to deep left field that allowed Ketcherside to tag up and score, securing a 2-1 Western Illinois victory. Gabriela Drager finished 2-2 as the Leathernecks finished with six hits, two of which were for extra-bases as Rodriguez added a fourth-inning double to Ketcherside's seventh-inning triple.
 
The Weekend at a Glance
Western Illinois softball concludes its opening weekend of play with a 4-1 record. The tournament got off to a hot start when Savannah Rodriguez threw a perfect game against Detroit Mercy on Friday before WIU fell, 0-1, against Valpo in the second game of the day. The team responded Saturday night, going down 0-2 against SLU but fighting back late, using consecutive RBI singles in the fifth and a two-run single in the sixth to setup Rodriguez, who closed the door on what finished as a 4-3 victory and set the team up with a 2-1 record heading into today's contests.
 
Rodriguez's tremendous two-way play saw her finish with four hits and two RBIs in 15 at-bats (.267), also hitting career homerun no. 16 in the process. In the circle, she finished the weekend 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA in 16.1 innings pitched, allowing six hits and only one earned run while striking out 25 opposing hitters. Her perfect game on Friday was the first time in over 20 years that a Leatherneck accomplished the feat, with Hall of Fame pitcher Holly (Killion) Van Vlymen last throwing one on March 31, 2000 – a span of 7,986 days.
 
After pitching 34 total innings last season, Emily Price was in the circle for 14 innings this weekend, finishing 1-1 with a 1.00 ERA. Opposing batters hit just .176 when she was on the field, allowing nine hits and two earned runs while managing a perfect fielding percentage and striking out 15 of the 51 hitters she faced.
 
Underclassmen stepped up in a huge way for the Leatherneck offense, and that started with Rylee Boone. A true freshman getting her first taste of collegiate softball, Boone finished the weekend 4-9 (.444) with one base on balls and two RBIs with several clutch at-bats. The LaCygne, Kan., native drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning of last night's victory over SLU before hitting a sacrifice fly in the final inning of today's victory over Detroit Mercy that would seal a 2-1 victory. Boone also managed to steal two bases and started every single game.
 
Now in year two as a Leatherneck, Kaylee Ketcherside also finished the opening weekend 4-9 with two RBIs. She recorded a hit in each of the four games she appeared in, including the game-tying RBI single against SLU before scoring on Rodriguez's homer against Bowling Green and again on Boone's game-winning sacrifice fly against Detroit Mercy on Sunday. The 5-6 sophomore is coming off a successful freshman season where she started 37 of 41 appearances and finished second on the team in batting average (.264).
 
Junior infielder Gabriela Drager played in three of the team's five games this weekend, hitting for a .714 average thanks to five hits in seven plate appearances. Her sixth-inning double against BGSU set the stage for Hull's RBI single that extended Western's lead to three and she was responsible for the first RBI single in Western's comeback victory over SLU, driving in Alivia Beard in the top of the fifth.
 
Appearing in three games this weekend, Cynthia Hull maximized her opportunities as Coach Goler alluded to, finishing 2-2 with an RBI and run scored. Coming on as a pinch hitter during the sixth inning against BGSU, Hull singled to center field to score Alivia Beard, who had come on as a pinch runner after Drager's double. She then stepped up with another late-game single in the 2-1 victory over Detroit Mercy, leading off the seventh inning with another single before scoring on Ketcherside's triple to center.
 
What's Next
Western Illinois will take its 4-1 record south next weekend, heading to Chattanooga, Tenn., to play in a tournament hosted by Chattanooga. The action starts with games against Indiana State and Maine on Friday (Feb. 17), continues with another matchup against Maine and Chattanooga on Saturday (Feb. 18), and concludes with one final matchup against the tournament hosts on Sunday (Feb. 19).
 
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