TAMPA, Fla. – Illinois State faced off against its first ranked opponent of the season Friday at the USF-Wilson DeMarini Tournament, as the Redbirds took the field against No. 2 Florida in the second game of a split doubleheader. The Gators pitched their way to a 9-0 shutout win over the Redbirds (0-3) in ISU's third game at the tournament.
"We are getting runners on and getting them in scoring position, but we just can't seem to get that hit that will push runners across the plate," ISU head coach Melinda Fischer said. "When we got that first run against UAB in the first game, I thought we had turned a corner but we left the bases loaded to end that game and then did the same thing against Florida. The situation was different against the Gators, as they had a perfect game going into the seventh, but Riley (Strandgard) got a hit to break it up and we loaded the bases  but couldn't convert."
Freshman pitcher Morgan Day earned her first career start and kept the dangerous Florida offense at bay through six innings, giving up just five runs while striking out four Gators. However, she was chased from the game in the top of the seventh inning and suffered her first loss of the season.
"I thought Morgan pitched an amazing game against the Gators," Fischer stated. "They are potent offense and have a lot of players returning from last year's team and I couldn't be happier with what she did in the circle. Unfortunately, we couldn't give her any run support, but she really hung in there and did a great job."
The Gators scored two runs in the second inning to take the early lead and added one each in the fourth through sixth innings to make the score 5-0 headed to the seventh. During that time, Florida's pitchers set the Redbirds down in order and had a combined perfect game going into the final inning. In the top half of the frame, Florida busted the game open thanks to a three-run off the bat of Jordan Matthews and added another run to make it 9-0 headed to the bottom half of the final frame.
After the Gators retired the first two Redbird hitters, Anni Borries broke up the perfect game with a walk and then Strandgard followed with the lone base hit in the contest for ISU to negate the no-hit bid. Alex Caliva then walked to load the bases, before Lauren Prader was struck out to end the game.
"Opportunities have been there to score early, and I think we just really need to get some of those runs early and keep the petal to the metal," Fischer said of her team's offensive output through three contests. "We just been a bit inconsistent with the approach, and I think if we correct that we will start to see results."
The Redbirds return to the field Saturday at 5 p.m. against Georgia State, before wrapping up the first weekend of play Sunday against No. 16/18 Michigan on Sunday at 8 a.m.
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