EC softball falls in opener, bounces back to split with Iowa Wesleyan

 MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa – The Eureka College softball team bounced back from a tough extra innings St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss to split a pair with the Iowa Wesleyan Tigers, Thursday afternoon in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The Tigers took the opener, 6-5 in eight innings before Eureka rallied in the nightcap, 10-2 in six.

Eureka improves to 28-4 overall on the season and 10-2 in conference play.

Sophomore Krysten Wallace (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone) and freshman Kerrigan Dura (Brimfield, Ill./Brimfield) paced the Red Devils with two hits apiece in the opener. Wallace tacked on a pair of runs scored and a stolen base to her game one total.

Five different individuals drove in runs for the Red Devils who scattered eight hits off IW's Samantha Mcllwain.

Sophomore Kali George (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) led the charge in game two, finishing 3-for-4 at the plate with a triple, a pair of runs scored and two runs driven in. Junior Bridget Bankes (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria [Heartland]) scored three times in a 2-for-3 effort, tallying her third triple of the season.

Junior Rachel Patterson (Tremont, Ill./Tremont [ICC]) picked up her tenth win in a row in the circle, surrendering eight hits and no earned runs. Patterson struck out three and walked two.

Softball will be back in action on Saturday with a conference showdown at Fontbonne University. The conference co-leaders will square off beginning at noon in St. Louis, Mo.