MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Western Illinois softball played on Friday (March 10), falling in two contests against Green Bay and Southern Illinois. The Leathernecks are slated to play three more games in Tennessee this weekend, starting with two games on Saturday (March 11); WIU faces tournament hosts Middle Tennessee State at 3 p.m. before matching up with Appalachian State at 5:30 p.m.
Game 1: Phoenix 7, Leathernecks 1
Western Illinois used a strong third inning to open up the game's scoring against Green Bay.
Piper Foote wore a Phoenix pitch before
Gabriela Drager singled and
Rylee Boone walked to load the bases;
Maria Luna then walked to drive in a run for her fifth RBI of the season. Green Bay countered in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back RBI singles to take a 2-1 advantage.
Â
Green Bay scored five in the bottom of the sixth inning to secure a 7-1 victory.
Â
Luna finished 2-3 with a double and RBI while Drager (1-4) and
Bella Alvarez (1-4) also added hits in the game;
Rylee Boone,
Cynthia Hull,
Megan Leonard and
Jorja Hudson also found their way on base with walks.
Savannah Rodriguez started in the circle, allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out five in three innings of work before
Emily Price pitched the final three innings, allowing five hits and striking out five opposing hitters while not allowing an earned run.
Â
Game 2: Southern Illinois 8, Western Illinois 0 (F/5)
The Saluki bats came out rolling early, putting on six runs in the first three innings before adding two in the bottom of the fourth as Western Illinois was quiet offensively, generating runners with two hits by
Georgia Rea – including a double – and a third-inning walk by Drager.
Â
Rea finished 2-2 as
Kathryn McChristy gave up three hits and two earned runs in her sixth start of the season;
Sophia Honse pitched the final three innings of play and allowed 10 hits and six runs.
Â
Western Illinois will continue the MTSU Invitational with three more games this weekend, facing Middle Tennessee twice and Appalachian State once before continuing rounding out the spring break trip with games at Tennessee Tech (March 14), Murray State (March 15) and Illinois (March 18).
Â
