Feb. 28, 2011
Box Score
TAMPA, Fla. -
Illinois State freshman Taylor Baxter tossed the second perfect game in the history of Redbird softball and earned her third shutout victory of the season in a 9-0 victory over Central Connecticut State Sunday morning in the final game of the USF Fairfield Inn and Suites Tampa North Tournament.
The Hannibal, Mo., native faced the minimum 18 hitters in the six-inning contest and struck out eight, becoming the first ISU pitcher since 1990 to accomplish the feat. Lana Davis recorded the first perfect game for Illinois State in a victory over Indiana State on April 24, 1990.
The Redbird offense was nearly perfect as well, as Illinois State tallied its second 14-hit effort in as many contests. Junior Liz Andrews led ISU at the plate with a 4-for-4 performance, scoring three runs and legging out one of four triples on the day for Illinois State. Seniors Kara Nelson and Abby Olson and junior Caiti Kopp also recorded multi-hit games for the Redbirds. Nelson finished 3-for-4 with a run scored, Olson provided a 2-for-3 performance with a pair of runs scored and a solo home run and Kopp drove in four runs after going 2-for-4 at the plate.
ISU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first after Nelson tripled to left center to lead off the game and was driven in on an Andrews single down the left field line. The Redbirds extended the lead to 3-0 in their half the third on three-straight hits from Olson, Andrews and Kopp. Olson hit a one-out homer to start the rally and was followed by Andrews, who tripled to right center and scored on Kopp's single down the left field line.
The Illinois State hit parade continued in the fifth as ISU scored three more runs on four hits and took advantage of three CCSU errors. Olson led things off with a double to left and advanced to third on Andrews' third hit of the ball game. Olson scored on a wild pitch out of the hand of Central Connecticut State starter Julie Marks and freshman Laura Canopy advanced Andrews to third on a single of her own. Kopp and redshirt freshman Sara Bradley then recorded RBIs on back-to-back groundouts before redshirt freshman Nichelle Harrison singled, advanced to third on a pair of Blue Devil errors and then scored on another.
Illinois State scored three more in the sixth as sophomore Lauren Kellar drove in Nelson, who tripled for the second time in the game to lead off the inning, on a sacrifice fly and Kopp tallied two more RBIs on the fourth triple of the game for the Redbirds, scoring Canopy and Andrews.
Baxter then took to the circle in the bottom of the sixth and completed the perfect game, using a fine fielding play from Olson, who snagged a line drive out of the air to prevent what would have been a one-out hit for CCSU.
The win improves the Redbirds to 9-5 on the season as the Blue Devils fall to 1-4. ISU will return to Florida next weekend when they compete in the Citrus Classic Mar. 4-6 in Orlando. Illinois State is slated to open the three-day event with games against Maryland and Fordham at 11:30 CST and 2:00 CST, respectively.
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