TAMPA, Fla. – Coming down to the eighth inning, the Illinois State softball team topped St. John's, 2-1 on a walk-off single on Sunday afternoon to wrap up the USF Wilson DeMarini Tournament. The Redbirds return home with a 2-3 record while the Red Storm falls to 1-3.
Despite both teams scoring a run early on, Illinois State and St. John's battled into extra innings, enacting the international tie-breaker to put a runner on second.
Shannon Felde was placed on second to start the eighth inning before Annie Heineman was intentionally walked. The Redbirds collected a pair of outs before Allison Spence crushed a single up the middle for the 2-1 win.
Between the two teams, there were 14 total hits: eight for St. John's and six for Illinois State. Sarah Finck improved to 1-1 in the circle with four strikeouts while the Red Storm's Madison Morris took the loss.
The Redbirds struck first with Felde's leadoff double to left. Riley Strandgard brought her home on a sac-fly to center, scoring one.
The Red Storm responded in the top of the second, stringing together four singles to tie the game at 1-1.
Heineman singled through the left side in the third but the Redbirds couldn't convert as the score remained 1-1.
Mirroring the third, Alyssa Wiebel singled up the middle to lead off the fourth but was caught leaving early to end the frame.
A quick three-up, three-down inning for the Redbirds on defense set them up the bottom half. Riley Phipps drew a leadoff walk to begin the fifth frame. Felde knocked a single to center, putting Illinois State in scoring position. However, a quick groundout to the Red Storm's pitcher left two on base to end the frame.
Finck hurled a pair of strikeouts in the sixth to hold off the Red Storm as the score remained tied at 1-1.
Strandgard led off the sixth with a liner up the middle before Wiebel reached first on a bunt. Spence put down a sacrifice bunt, advancing runners to second and third. Mirroring the fifth frame, the runners were left on base.
The Redbirds escaped the top of the seventh on a double play by Alex Caliva tagging the runner before a quick toss to Spence for the out at first.
With the international tie-breaker in place, the Redbirds capitalized on a walk and Spence's single for Felde to score. With two outs on the board, the score was finalized at 2-1.
The Redbirds travel to the Arizona State Littlewood Classic February 17-19 for a four-game tournament in Tempe, Arizona.
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