Eureka Splits with Blackburn on Senior Day
EUREKA – The Eureka softball team bounced back from a lopsided loss with a 9-7 victory over Blackburn on Tuesday to earn a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference split on Senior Day.
The Red Devils held off the Beavers after the visitors put together a five-run rally in the sixth to make it a two-run game.
Kloey Wheeler (Farmington, Ill./Farmington Central/Heartland) took over for starting pitcher Mady Bultemeier (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) in the seventh inning and retired three of four batters to notch the save.
Bultemeier, a freshman, recorded her first career win in the circle, allowing six earned runs on 12 hits and two walks in 12 innings.
Through five innings, she was on top of her game and in control. The Beavers then notched five runs on four hits, with a grand slam by Zoe Mitchell in the sixth making it 9-7 and giving the Red Devils a bit of a scare.
Bultemeier, however, got the next batter to pop up for the third out, and Wheeler took care of it from there.
Leadoff hitter Macey Whisker (Washington, Ill./Washington/Illinois Central College) led the way at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a double and a first-inning home run that put the Red Devils on the board and started a four-run inning.
Later in the inning, with bases loaded, Bri Tanksley (Spring Bay, Ill./Metamora) stepped up to the plate and delivered a bases-clearing three-run double to make it 4-0.
After Blackburn plated a run in the top of the first, the Red Devils came back with two more in the second. Gada Bryant (Westville, Ill./Westville/Lincoln) scored after a dropped fly ball in right field and Whisker scored on a sacrifice bunt by KayLee Hohlbauch (Arcola, Ill./Arcola/Lincoln).
Two innings later, Eureka tacked on three more runs to make it 9-1. After Bryant reached on an error, Whisker drove her in with an RBI double to center field. Wheeler brought home Whisker with an RBI single. Then, after Wheeler stole second, Hohlbauch scored Wheeler with an RBI single to left.
Hohlbauch had two hits and drove in a pair of runs.
Game 1: Blackburn 19, Eureka 5
The Red Devils got off to a good start in the opener, plating four runs on three hits and two Blackburn errors.
Whisker scored an unearned run after Delaney Douglas (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) reached on an error. Bria Wessel (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) drove in two with a double to center, and lone senior Christine Mepham (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) notched an RBI double to right to make it 4-0.
After that, though, things got off track. The Beavers produced four runs on three hits and an error to tie the game up in the third, took the lead with two doubles and a triple in the fourth, and just kept piling on runs from there, taking advantage of a few defensive miscues along the way.
Eureka pitcher Claire Wuethrich (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Christian) pitched four innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out three batters.
Hohlbauch drove in a fifth and final run for the Red Devils in the bottom of the seventh.
Bryant and Lexi Liptak (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) each had a pair of hits in the loss.
Up Next
On Saturday, Eureka (10-26-1, 4-12 SLIAC) will wrap up St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a home doubleheader at Sweitzer Field against Greenville (20-13, 9-4 SLIAC) at 1 p.m.
