TAMPA, Fla. – After struggling to score runs through its first three games at the USF-Wilson DeMarini Tournament, the Illinois State offense came alive Saturday against Georgia State as the Redbirds (1-3) scored early and often to defeat the Panthers (0-4) at USF Softball Stadium.
"I thought we came out attacking Georgia State early and had some quality at-bats that led to five runs in the second inning," ISU head coach Melinda Fischer said. "I really thought that what we weren't able to do in our earlier games we were able to get done today. We were able to get some of our leadoff batters on base, so we had some opportunities to do some different things at the plate, and then we were able to string runs together in bulk."
Illinois State was led at the plate by sophomore Alyssa Wiebel, who finished the game 2-for-3 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Allison Spence also recorded a pair of hits and drove in two for ISU, while Taylor Vanderpool also drove in a run and scored a run for the Redbirds. Starting pitcher Sarah Finck (1-2) picked up her first win of the season, giving up three hits and striking out two in four innings of work in the circle.
The Panthers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but the Redbirds answered with five runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame. Lauren Prader singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Abby Turczyn. Vanderpool then drove in the first run of the game with a RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 1-1. After a groundout by Kori Mesecher recorded the second out of the inning, Shannon Felde singled and Riley Hale walked to load the bases.Â
Wiebel then doubled down the left field line to plate a pair of runs and make the score 3-1 in favor of ISU. Spence followed with a two-out RBI single of her own to widen the lead to 5-1 after two innings of play. GSU came right back in the top of the third and plated three runs, thanks to a three-run homerun off the bat of Megan Litumbe, to cut the ISU lead to 5-4.
ISU held onto the one-run lead until the bottom of the fourth inning, when Weibel launched her first home run of the season to score Felde and give the Redbirds a 7-4 lead. Georgia State made things interesting in the top half of the seventh inning, cutting the ISU lead to 7-6 on a two-run home run off the bat of Ivie Drake, however the Redbirds held on for the 7-6 victory.
The Redbirds wrap up action at the USF-Wilson DeMarini Tournament Sunday, when they face off against No. 16/18 Michigan at 8 a.m.
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