Greenville Wins Pair of Three-Run Games at Eureka

EUREKA – The Eureka softball team fell three runs short against Greenville in a pair of St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contests against Greenville.

The Panthers blanked the Red Devils 3-0 in a close opening game, and then weathered a comeback bid by the Red Devils to win Game 1, 11-8.

It was the Red Devils' last games of the 2023 regular season.

On Tuesday, they will open the SLIAC Tournament with a quarterfinals challenge on the road. The time and place are yet to be determined.

 Game 1: Greenville 3, Eureka 0

Greenville ace Alison Klaus tallied 10 strikeouts and held the Red Devils to just three hits and two walks in 10 innings.

Eureka's Delaney Doulgas (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) broke up the no-hitter with a single to second base in the second inning. Bri Tanksley (Spring Bay, Ill./Metamora) reached on a single to Klaus in the sixth, and Bria Wessel (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) singled with one out in the seventh, but the Red Devils were never able to manufacture a run.

Eureka pitcher Claire Wuethrich (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Christian) also had a quality outing in the circle as well, limiting the Panthers to two earned runs on seven hits and one walk.

Game 2: Greenville 11, Eureka 8

In the second game of the day, Eureka took an early lead, saw it disappear and a deficit develop in the middle innings and then threatened to come back in the bottom of the fifth.

Trailing 9-3, the maroon and gold rallied for five runs with two outs.

The first two runs were the results of Greenville errors. A dropped fly ball put a runner on and a muffed throw allowed a run to score

A two-run double to left-center by Tanksley made it a three-run game. Then, Kacy Dunlap (Mount Sterling, Ill./Brown County/Lincoln) stepped up to the plate and crushed a two-run homer over the center-field fence to make it a one-run game. It was her second long ball of the season.

Greenville pitcher Melissa Bernal then got a groundout to get out of the inning. The Panthers then produced a pair of insurance runs in the sixth, and the Red Devils were unable to respond from there.

Douglas drove in Eureka's first run of the game with a long RBI single to left-center in the first inning. The following frame, back-to-back SAC bunts by Dunlap and Gada Bryant (Westville, Ill./Westville/Lincoln) gave Eureka a three-run advantage.

The Panthers gained their first lead with a four-run third inning, then added two in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the sixth.