April 18, 2006
Box Score
URBANA, Ill. -
The Illinois State softball team continued to come from behind against Illinois and it paid off in the top of the seventh. Tricia Gaither's sacrifice fly with a pair of runners in scoring position brought in the winning run as the Redbirds downed their neighbors to the east, 3-2, at Eichelberger Field on Tuesday evening.
"I thought we battled and it was just a great effort," ISU head coach Melinda Fischer said. "We started out a little slow. We were a little slow to the ball on defense and a little slow to react on offense. But we had some key hits in key situations. Randi really made a good adjustment to get that double to leadoff the sixth. Then Tricia got two strikes and she was able to hit the ball deep enough to get that run in. And then Amber made two key plays on defense that helped prevent them from scoring."
Illinois State (28-11), which finished with four hits, managed just one hit through five innings but was still able to keep pace with Illinois courtesy of a strong performance in the circle from pitcher Shannon Nicholson. The Fighting Illini, which collected a total of seven hits, jumped ahead in the bottom of the first as leadoff batter Rachelle Coriddi singled up the middle, stole second and scored on Jenna Hall's double to left field.
But the Redbirds battled back with a run of their own in the top of the second. Stacy Birk reached on a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. A Jessie Buker single through the right side drove in the tying run as Birk came around to score from second.
With one out in the fifth, Illinois (19-25) plated the go-ahead run after three straight hits loaded the bases. Redbird first baseman Amber Smith fielded Shanna Diller's hard grounder but Coriddi snuck across to put the Illini back up by one.
Yet again ISU rallied from a deficit to tie it up in the sixth. Randi Patton started the inning with a double to left center. A Smith groundout moved her over to third, but it appeared as if the `Birds might not score as the ensuing batter fouled out for the second out of the frame. However, Birk came through with a RBI single through the left side to even thing up a second time.
In the top of the final frame, Buker was hit by a pitch to start the ISU rally. Following a strikeout, Tiffany Prager singled to the shortstop in the pocket. Illinois shortstop Angelena Mexicano overthrew first, allowing both runners to get into scoring position to set up Gaither's sacrifice fly.
Nicholson (15-5) recorded the win, fanning three and walking one while surrendering seven hits, three of which were by Hall. Claire DeVreese (14-13) shouldered the loss for the Illini. She struck out five and walked four.
"Shannon really pitched well today," Fischer said. "(Jenna) Hall is just a tremendous batter. Shannon gave up some hits, but she was able to do was keep the ball in the park and that was key."
Wednesday, the Redbirds host Indiana State at 5 p.m. at Redbird Softball Complex.
