Eureka Sweeps Cornell in Dramatic Fashion, 4-3, 6-5
EUREKA – The Eureka softball team held on twice in a pair of one-run wins over Cornell on Thursday to secure a non-conference sweep at Sweitzer Field.
The Red Devils scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to come away with a 4-3 victory in Game 1, and protected a 6-5 lead in the seventh to make it a sweep.
Eureka junior Bria Wessel (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) delivered two-run home runs in both games, giving her long balls in three straight games.
Game 1: Eureka 4, Cornell 3
In the bottom of the seventh, with the game tied at 3-3, Gada Bryant (Westville, Ill./Westville/Lincoln) scored the game-winning run in dramatic and unusual fashion.
The Red Devils' shortstop led off the inning with a bunt single to first base. After that, leadoff hitter Macey Whisker (Washington, Ill./Washington/Illinois Central College) laid down another bunt right in front of the catcher, who tried to throw her out at first. Whisker beat the throw, and the first baseman winged it to third in an attempt to get the lead runner, but the throw was low. Then, when Bryant went to round third, she got tripped up by the third baseman and was awarded the winning run on fielder's interference.
It capped a strong performance by Bryant, who went 3-for-3 with a double and scored twice.
Eureka put the first run on the board in what ended up being a back-and-forth contest. KayLee Hohlbauch (Arcola, Ill./Arcola/Lincoln) knocked a two-run double to the left-field corner to score Whisker in the first inning.
Cornell rallied for three runs – two unearned – in the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead, but the Red Devils answered with Wessel's first two-run dinger of the day in the fifth inning. After a double by Bryant, Wessel crushed one to left-center off the scoreboard, tying the game at 3-3.
When the Rams put two on against relief pitcher Rachel Dawson (Stanford, Ill./Homeschooled) in the top of the seventh, the Red Devils got a grounder to get out of it. Dawson recorded the win after allowing just one hit, one walk and no runs in the last two innings of the game.
Starting pitcher Kloe Norris (Manito, Ill./Midwest Central) had a good showing as well, conceding just one earned run on seven hits and one walk in five innings.
Eureka finished with eight hits. Hohlbauch went 2-for-3 with the RBI double.
Game 2: Eureka 6, Cornell 5
After Cornell turned a three-run Eureka lead into a one-run game with a run in both the first and sixth innings, the Red Devils' freshman No. 1 pitcher finished the job in relief.
Claire Wuethrich (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Christian) notched her first career save after throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings to close it out. She got the final out with a one-run lead and runners on the corners in the sixth, and then got a strikeout, a groundout and a fly-out to end the game.
Hohlbauch recorded her first win as a Red Devil after holding the Rams to four runs on six hits and one walk, and striking out three batters, in five innings in the circle.
Eureka had to come from behind before the home team went ahead. The game began with two hit batsmen and a three-run homer by Cornell's Monet Roelle in the first inning. After that, though, Hohlbauch settled down and didn't give up another run until the fifth inning.
She also helped her own cause with an RBI groundout that scored Whisker in the bottom of the first.
The Red Devils produced a five-run inning in the second inning to take a 6-3 lead. The rally included a sacrifice fly by Tressa Grisham (East Peoria, Ill./Morton), an RBI single to center by Kloey Wheeler (Farmington, Ill./Farmington Central/Heartland) and Wessel's second bomb of the day – a two-run shot to straightaway center.
Cornell would later manufacture a fourth run off a triple and an RBI groundout in the fifth and another off a pair of hits and a pair of fielders' choices in the sixth. It wasn't enough.
Wheeler and Wessel both drove in a pair of runs.
Carmen Howard (Warrensburg, Ill./Warrensburg-Latham) went 2-for-3 in the No. 8 hole, Wheeler and Wessel both had a pair of RBI and five different Red Devils contributed at least one hit.
The Red Devils didn't commit a single error in the field for the first time this week.
Up Next
Eureka's (7-17-1, 2-4 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) eight-game homestand continues on Saturday with a 12 p.m. doubleheader against conference foe Spalding (12-8, 1-1 SLIAC).
