Illinois State fell in the nightcap 6-5 to St. Xavier, finishing the day 2-1 in the Illinois State University Fall Softball Tournament.
We started out pretty strong and played well against Indiana State and St. Xavier, Illinois State head coach
Melinda Fischer said. We had some nice performances today and we saw a lot of things that havent been able to see in practice yet. I think our team adjusted pretty well having two outdoor practices, so Im pretty proud of them.
Illinois State came out of the birdhouse strong in the first game of the day defeating Illinois Central College (ICC) 8-0. It was a good showing by the freshmen as Shannon Nicholson earned her first collegiate start and the win for the Redbirds. Freshman Jackie Williams also had a strong outing, smacking a double and recording two RBI.
Fischer thinks her freshmen are doing pretty well, considering the fact that this is their first time playing college softball.
I was pretty proud of Shannon in the first game, it was her first time at 43 feet, Fischer said. Jackie had one really good hit for us in the game and drove in a couple runs. Then Stacy started out strong in the circle in the St. Xavier game.
Next up for the Birds was Missouri Valley Conference foe, Indiana State. Junior Kate Stake went to work in the first inning with a double and came home on an Emily Krueger double. The Redbirds got another run in the fourth when senior Katie Hanko singled and freshman Aundrea Parsons scored. Indiana State tried to get back in it with a Julie Damico home run, but it wasnt enough as the Birds scored again in the sixth and came out on top, 3-1. Sophomore pitcher Sheila Emms got the victory for ISU.
Illinois State met St. Xavier in the final game of the night. The Redbirds dominated in the first inning as they collected four runs on five hits to put themselves up 4-0. Then in the third inning, Stake scored on a wild pitch to give Illinois State a 5-0 lead. Freshman pitcher Stacy Birk, who had ten strikeouts in the game, shutout St. Xavier until the bottom of the sixth inning when they took advantage of two Redbird errors and rallied to score six runs to get the win. The game ended when, with two runners on base, St. Xaviers Colleen Kilduff hit a walk off home run to give St. Xavier a 6-5 victory.
We stopped scoring and we had opportunities where we didnt score and that was key for us, Fischer said of the loss. Defensively we had trouble in the last inning. Plays should have been made and we didnt do what we needed to on the field.
Tournament action continues tomorrow at 11 a.m. as Illinois State White takes on St. Xavier. Then Illinois State Red faces ICC at 1 p.m. The Redbirds wrap up the tournament with an intrasquad contest at 5 p.m.
