Box Score

NCAA Whitewater Regional Web Site

WHITEWATER, Wis. – In their first game of the NCAA Regionals, the No. 2-seed Illinois Wesleyan softball team was able to come from behind against No. 7-seed Benedictine and win in eight innings by a score of 7-6 on Friday (May 10) at van Steenderen Field in Whitewater, Wis.
 
The Titans improve their overall record to 32-9, while the Eagles fall to 27-14.
  
♦   Benedictine opened the scoring in the top of the third with a home run by senior Ashley Parrot. The Eagles added one more run on a two out single by Kelly Mieszala to give Benedictine a 2-0 lead. Benedictine widened their lead in the top of the fourth on an Amanda Straka solo home run.  
 
♦   The Titans answered in the bottom of the fifth with four runs of their own to take the lead 4-3. After a leadoff walk, senior Courtney Martin doubled to left center. Sophomore Audra James singled to load the bases. Senior Keri Leach then singled to left to send two Titans home. Emma Clark singled up the middle to score James and tie the game.  Allie Riordan then singled to center to score Leach to give the Titans the lead.

♦   The Eagles fought back with a two run home run by Kailee Cable to take the lead 5-4 in the top of the seventh. Needing one run to send the game to extra innings, Emma Clark led of the bottom of the seventh inning with a solo shot to left field to tie the game 5-5. The home run for Clark is her 11th of the season, setting a new IWU season record. 

♦   Benedictine was able to push one run across in the top of the eighth on a few mistakes by the Titan defense. But the Titans were not discouraged. Martin began the bottom of the eighth with a leadoff walk. Two batters later, Leach doubled to score Martin to tie the game. Leach's double is her 16th of the year, setting a new IWU season record.
On a smart play, Leach advanced to third on the throw home to put herself in prime scoring position. Clark then hit a walk off sacrifice fly to center field to score Leach and secure the win for the Titans. 

♦   Despite only throwing to one batter, IWU sophomore pitcher Jenna Noland (5-2) earned the victory for the Titans in relief of starter Alyssa Vorel. Vorel pitched the first 7.2 innings allowing six runs on 10 hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
 
 
What's Next?
The No. 2-seed Titans will face a familiar CCIW foe in the No. 6-seed North Central at 9 a.m. Saturday (May 11) in the NCAA Regional tournament in Whitewater, Wis. The game was to have been played Friday night but darkness prevailed. More details on the NCAA Regional softball tournament are available here.