Pitching Trio Sends Red Devils to 2-0 Sunday

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Eureka College pitching trio of Kali George (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria H.S.), Gabby Wood (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone H.S.) and Erin Smith (Dunlap, Ill./Dunlap H.S.) didn't allow a run over 14.0 innings while Morgan Osborn (Washington, Ill./Washington H.S.) and Allison Cagley (Fairbury, Ill./Prairie Central) delivered game-winning RBIs in the Red Devils' opening-day wins over SUNY Poly and Mount Aloysius (Pa.), Sunday afternoon at the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The Red Devils downed SUNY Poly 5-0 in Sunday's opener and followed with a 3-0 win over Mount Aloysius.

In the opener against the Wildcats, Eureka broke a scoreless tie with a five-run fifth inning. Kerrigan Dura (Edwards, Ill./Brimfield H.S.) and Courtney Kurtz (Minooka, Ill./Minooka H.S.) produced back-to-back hits to start the inning before the Poly infield misplayed Osborn's ground ball, allowing both runners to race home for a 2-0 lead.

Two batters later, Cagley singled home Osborn for a 3-0 cushion and Smith's groundout eventually plated George for a 4-0 cushion. Krysten Wallace (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone H.S.) finished the outburst with an RBI single up the middle to score Cagley. When the dust settled, EC banged out five hits and took advantage of two Poly errors to score five times in the frame.

The offense was more than enough for George and Wood, who combined to record to Eureka's fourth season-opening shutout of the Debi Neff coaching era. George allowed one hit over 5.0 innings to notch her 37th career victory. Wood struck out four over 2.0 innings of relief and worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth when she sat Michaela Costello down on a called third strike.

Wallace had three of the Red Devils' 10 hits. Dura and Osborn each doubled as part of their two-hit efforts.

Eureka scored all three of its runs in the third inning of Sunday's win over Mount Aloysius. A single, error and walk loaded the bases for Cagley, who punched a single through the right side to score Dura and Osborn. When the MAC right fielder couldn't field the bouncing ball cleanly, George scored from first and Cagley ended up on third base with a two-RBI, bases-clearing single and a 3-0 lead.

Smith did the rest in the circle to earn her 10th collegiate win and her third career complete-game shutout. She struck out six and worked around six MAC hits. The Mounties brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a triple and a walk, but Wallace snared a line drive near the left-center field gap for the game's final out.

Eureka will continue competition at the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic Monday at 8:30 a.m. CST against Mary Baldwin (Va.) at the North Myrtle Beach Sports Complex. The Red Devils will also play Penn College at 4:30 p.m. CST Monday.