Sept. 11, 2005
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State held on to early leads to down St. Xavier, 2-1 and Southern Illinois, 7-3 on day two of the Illinois State Fall Tournament. But its unbeaten bid fell short in the `Birds' final game, as they fell to Southern Illinois - Edwardsville, 6-5.
"We got to see a whole lot more of our team today," ISU head coach Melinda Fischer said. "Our bench really got us back in it in that last game. SIUE is always a good hitting team; and we've got to play sharp against them but we weren't able to do that today. After our win against Southern (Illinois), we were pretty pumped and we weren't as mentally prepared for Edwardsville as we needed to be."
ISU defeated St. Xavier in Sunday's opener, despite a late rally by the Cougars. The Redbirds struck first with one out in the third. Tricia Gaither reached on an error and stole second base. With two outs, Casey Gorrell drove Gaither in with a double to left field. ISU's second run came the following inning, courtesy of a Kaprice Williams sacrifice fly. Jen Wright started the frame with a single up the middle. Pinch runner Marilyn Tresenriter advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and went on to third on a passed ball to set up the sacrifice situation.
With two out in the seventh, St. Xavier's Rhea Minas singled through the left side. She moved to second on a walk, and came around to score on a Redbird error on the infield. But the threat ended there as two runners were stranded following a pop out on the infield.
Amber Smith earned the "W", striking out ten and scattering four hits in her first start as a Redbird. Reliever Shannon Nicholson struck out three and walked one in 1.2 innings. The ISU staff allowed five hits, while the Cougars held the Redbirds to just two hits.
Game two featured the marquee match-up of the tournament: Illinois State vs. Southern Illinois. The `Birds came out like gangbusters in the first two innings, taking a 7-0 lead into the third. ISU then struggled defensively in the fifth, but they managed to hold on for a 7-3 victory.
Tiffany Prager started a rally in the first with a one-out single. After a walk, Stacy Birk smacked a home run over the fence in right center for a 3-0 advantage. ISU then rallied with two outs in the second. Katie Thoennes reached on a fielder's choice, and moved to second on Gaither's single to third. Prager's drive up the middle plated both Redbirds. Kelsey Warning added a home run to left field to push the score to 7-0.
But the `Birds opened the door in the top of the fifth by committing four errors. SIU's Katie Louis started the rally with a single down the right field line. The next batter reached on an infield error just before Lauren Haas' single loaded the bases. The Salukis broke into the scoring column when the `Birds committed another error. After Illinois State got it's first out of the frame, the Redbirds committed a third error, allowing a second run. ISU's fourth error of the frame allowed Southern Illinois to cut it to 7-3, which held for the final score.
"We didn't have very good pitch selection against St. Xavier. So our focus going into the SIU game was on having good at bats and good communication," Fischer said. "Against Southern (Illinois) we really battled offensively, and we hung tough after our bad inning. I think our younger kids kind of panicked a little bit but we learned a lot about ourselves."
In the nightcap, SIU-Edwardsville jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, becoming the first team to score before the Redbirds all weekend. Cougar leadoff Shanna Waldo hit a high chopper up the middle for a single. Following a fielder's choice, Alicia DeShasier reached on a Redbird error, and Mallory Ruggles singled to load the bases. Then with two outs, Nicole Beecher singled down the right field line to give SIUE a 2-0 edge. Libby Lenart added a home run to start the second frame, making it 3-0.
Illinois State scored it's first runs in the top of the third. Prager reached on a leadoff walk, and went to second on a Warning single. Then with two outs, Gorrell hit a RBI single up the middle to cut the Cougar lead to two. The `Birds struck again in the fifth, scoring three runs on five hits. Gaither started things off with a single to right field. Prager moved her over with a sacrifice bunt, and a Warning RBI single pushed Gaither across. Birk and Gorrell hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Jessie Buker singled to right for the Redbirds' second run, while Wright followed with a run-scoring walk to give ISU a 4-3 lead.
SIUE battled back with a pair of two-out runs in the bottom half of the fifth and a run in the sixth to regain the lead and make it 6-4. But the `Birds didn't quit, cutting the lead to one and putting the tying run on third before succumbing to the Cougars in the top of the seventh.
Nicholson shouldered the loss for ISU, scattering ten hits while walking two and striking out two. Warning led the Redbird offense with five hits and three RBI on the day. Four other ISU players compiled three hits apiece while Birk also added three RBI.
Day Two Results
Illinois State 2, Saint Xavier 1
Southern Illinois 5, Western Illinois 3
Saint Xavier 8, Parkland 0
Western Illinois 4, ICC 0
Illinois State 7, Southern Illinois 3
SIU-Edwardsville 12, Parkland 4
SIU-Edwardsville 6, Illinois State 5
Parkland 5, ICC 2
