Eureka Falls Twice Against Fontbonne

EUREKA – The Eureka softball team fell twice against Fontbonne on a cold, windy April afternoon at Sweitzer Field on Monday.

The Red Devils couldn't get the bats going in a 3-1 loss in the opener and couldn't get timely outs in a 14-6 Game 2

Game 1: Fontbonne 3, Eureka 1

Fontbonne pitcher Abby Richmond and the Griffins limited Eureka to one run on three hits in Game 1.

The Red Devils trailed the visitors 3-0 heading into the seventh inning and managed to scratch across their first run and put two on the second, but the game-winning rally did come together.

Pitcher Torre Koontz (Lakewood, Ill./Shelbyville) helped her own cause with a two-out RBI double that scored Aubrey Sanders, and Bailey Tibbetts (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) reached on an error to put two on for Sidney Wightman (Waterloo, Ill./Gibault Catholic).

However, Richmond got her to pop up to end the game.

Eureka's Raelyn Payne (Lexington, Ill./Lexington) and Jordan Heinz (Washington, Ill./Washington) had back-to-back singles in the first inning, but the team went away quietly until Koontz's RBI double in the seventh.

Koontz threw a complete game for the Red Devils, holding the Griffins to one earned on one run on just three hits in seven innings. She struck out two and only walked one.

Fontbonne scored on a two-run double by Richmond in the fourth inning, following an error, a fielder's choice and a single. Two innings later, the Griffins scored another earned run following an EC error.

Game 2: Fontbonne 14, Eureka 6 (6 inn.)

Eureka held a 3-1 lead after the first inning and was up 6-5 after the third, but Fontbonne put together a four-run rally to take over in the fourth. Then, in the fifth, the Griffins tallied five more runs.

The Red Devils posted six runs on eight hits, with three EC players each recording a pair of hits.

Sanders, a sophomore, went 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs. It was the first time in her career that she notched two extra-base hits in the same game.

Allison Cagley (Fairbury, Ill./Prairie Central) went 2-for-2 and notched her first career triple. The senior is now five hits away from reaching 100 hits in her career. Wightman, a junior, went 2-for-2 and drove in two runs.

The Red Devils scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Payne put EC on the board after dashing home from first after a Fontbonne overthrow landed in the outfield on an attempt to catch her stealing.

Three batters later, Cagley knocked her triple to right, then Sanders doubled to send her home and, subsequently, scored on a fielding error.