Red Devils Earn Split with Lawrence

EUREKA – The Eureka softball team split a non-conference doubleheader with Lawrence on a windy Sunday afternoon.

The Red Devils edged the Vikings 2-1 in a quick opening game that was over in one hour, 15 minutes. Then, the visitors came back and took Game 2, 5-1.

Game 1: Eureka 2, Lawrence 1

With the game tied at 1-1 with two outs and a runner on second in the fifth inning, Bri Tanksley (Spring Bay, Ill./Metamora) came up to the plate as a pinch-hitter and delivered an RBI single through the right side into right-center field, bringing home pinch runner Tressa Grisham (Morton, Ill./East Peoria) and giving the Red Devils a 2-1 edge.

It proved to be the winning run as Claire Wuethrich (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Christian) retired the last six straight batters to seal it. Wuethrich recorded her first win as a Red Devil after successfully holding the Vikings to one run on just two hits and one walk in seven innings. She also notched three strikeouts.

Ashlyn Voyles (Blue Ridge, Ill./Farmer City) put the Red Devils on the board with a RBI single to center field in the first inning, and Lawrence's Kourtney Mercer evened the score with an RBI sac fly in the fourth.

The Red Devils finished with five hits, and they made them count.

Eureka's Delaney Douglas (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) went 2-for-3 and doubled in the first inning before Voyles' drove her home. Lexi Liptak (Lemont, Ill./Lemont), who was celebrating her birthday on Sunday, also had a single in the first inning.

Eureka didn't record a single error in the win.

Game 2: Lawrence 5, Eureka 1

The Red Devils fell into a four-run hole in the first three innings of Game 2, and couldn't get their bats going to get out of it.

The home team scored its lone run in the bottom of the third inning,

After four straight walks, the Vikings made a pitching change. Then, with the bases loaded, Voyles produced an RBI fielder's choice to make it 4-1. Lawrence's Xiomara Rueda-Marshall got a strikeout to end the threat.

Eureka managed four hits in the game, with Grisham and Bria Wessel (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) doubling and Douglas and Klaire Morris (Laurel, Mont./Billings Skyview/Williston State) both singling. The Red Devils' efforts were hindered by four errors in the field

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Eureka will turn around and host Illinois College on Monday in another non-conference doubleheader at Sweitzer Field at 2 p.m.