Westminster Holds Off Red Devils, 5-4, 5-3

FULTON, Mo. – The Eureka softball team came up just short in a pair of St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contests at Westminster on Saturday.

The Red Devils fell 5-4 after nearly rallying to victory late in Game 1, and then lost by two in Game 2, falling 5-3.

Game 1: Westminster 5, Eureka 4

Trailing 5-2 in the seventh inning, Eureka came up to the plate and nearly took the opener away from the Blue Jays.

Gada Bryant (Westville, Ill./Bismark-Henning/Rossville-Alvin/Lincoln) led off with a single and then scored after a single by Mackenzie Daniels (Monticello, Ill./Monticello) and a Westminster throwing error. Two batters later, Chloe Smith (Sullivan, Ill./Sullivan) made it a one-run game with a sac fly RBI to center field.

With the winning run at the plate, however, Westminster pitcher Payton Dudenhoeffer got Alayala Thornton to fly out and end the game.

Eureka's Kloey Wheeler (Farmington, Ill./Farmington Central/Heartland) went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and pitched the last three innings of the game for the Red Devils. She allowed two runs on four hits and one walk and had one strikeout. She took over for Claire Wuethrich (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Christian), who conceded two earned runs on three hits and two walks and fanned one in the first three innings.

Wheeler put EC on the board with an RBI single in the second inning. The Blue Jays jumped ahead with a pair of runs in the third. They then tacked on another run in the fourth, fifth, and sixth inning, while Eureka manufactured one in the fifth, but left the bases loaded.

Game 2: Westminster 5, Eureka 3

Eureka struck first for the second game in a row, with Daniels driving in a run with an RBI groundout in the first inning.

Westminster answered with a three-run second and later extended its lead to three with another run in the fifth.

An RBI single by Bria Wessel (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) made it a two-run lead in the sixth, but the Blue Jays plated another in the bottom half to return the lead to three.

With two outs in the seventh, Bre Dixon (Newark, Ill./Newark) singled and Thornton (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) doubled to drive her in, but Westminster ended it with a groundout before the Red Devils could threaten to turn it into more.

Despite the loss, Eureka had four extra-base hits in the game to Westminster's two.

Thornton went 2-for-3 in the leadoff spot with a pair of doubles. Daniels went 2-for-3 with a double and Kacy Dunlap (Mount Sterling, Ill./Brown County) contributed one as well.