Junior pitcher Corey Harris helped the Illinois State softball team resurrect a split in two games with a 2-1 win over in-state rival Western Illinois during day one of play, Friday, in Pool B at the State Farm National Invitational Championship in Moline, Ill.
Harris got the complete game victory giving up one run on five hits, walking 2 and striking out five Leathernecks. The Redbirds got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the sixth inning with two runs. Harris lone run came in the top of the seventh.
In the first game of the day the Birds started off hot scoring three-runs in the top of the first inning against Iowa. Iowa then answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the opening frame, then adding single tallies in the bottom of the third and sixth innings, to which the Redbirds could not respond, with the final going to the Hawkeyes 4-3. Audra Rast was the pitcher of record for the Birds going six innings, while allowing four hits on five runs, with a single walk and three strikeouts in the loss.
The Birds return to action in Pool B Saturday morning, playing the first game of the day at 11 a.m. against Illinois Central College. Single elimination bracket play begins Saturday evening at 7 p.m.
