Eureka Earns Road Split with Wheaton
WHEATON, Ill. – The Eureka softball team staved off a comeback bid by Wheaton and earned a non-conference road split on Wednesday.
The Red Devils' 13-10 win came after an 8-3 loss in Game 1 in which the Thunder rallied back late.
Now, Eureka has an 8-7 record heading into St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this weekend at Webster.
Game 1: Wheaton 8, Eureka 3
In the first game of the day, the Red Devils held a narrow lead for most of the game.
It was 3-2 after 5 1/2 innings, but the home team racked up six runs on three hits and a pair of errors in the sixth to gain the upper hand.
The Red Devils tallied 10 hits to Wheaton's nine and had four players record multi-hit games.
Delaney Douglas (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Macey Whisker (Washington, Ill./Washington/Illinois Central College) went 2-for-3 with a double, while Bria Wessel (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) and Mackenzie Daniels (Monticello, Ill./Monticello) each had two hits.
In the first inning, Daniels drove home Whisker with an RBI single after Whisker led the game off with a double and moved to third on a sac bunt by Kloey Wheeler (Farmington, Ill./Farmington Central/Heartland).
The Thunder evened the score with an unearned run in the second inning, but Eureka answered with its most productive inning of the game, scoring two on four hits. Daniels, Wessel, Lexi Liptak (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) and Douglas strung together four straight singles, and Liptak and Douglas each plated a run to make it 3-1.
Wheaton got one back in the bottom half to make it a one-run game, and it stayed that way until the Thunder's six-run sixth.
Eureka No. 1 pitcher Claire Wuethrich (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Christian) allowed just one earned run on five hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. She struck out two and walked two.
Game 2: Eureka 13, Wheaton 10
The Red Devils jumped out to a great start with an eight-run first inning that included eight hits and forced a pitching change.
After Wheeler and Daniels singled with one out and Ashlyn Voyles (Farmer City, Ill./Farmer City) walked to load the bases, Eureka scored on the next five at-bats.
Wessel, Klaire Morris (Billings, Mont./Billings Skyview/Williston State), Bri Tanksley (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) and Carmen Howard (Warrensburg, Ill./Warrensburg-Latham) all had RBI singles, and Gada Bryant (Westville, Ill./Bismark-Henning/Rossville-Alvin/Lincoln) ripped a two-run double that prompted the pitching change. When play resumed, Whisker doubled to bring in two more and give EC an 8-0 lead.
Three innings later, the Red Devils tacked on three more runs to extend the lead to 11-0. Morris drove in one on a fielder's choice and Tanskely smacked a two-run double.
In the bottom of the fifth, though, Wheaton came up with five runs on a pair of hits and a pair of errors. A two-run single by Voyles made it 13-5, but the Thunder came back for more in the bottom half.
The home team posted five runs on three hits and an error, prompting Eureka to bring Wuethrich back to the circle. She proceeded to get back-to-back strikeouts to put the Thunder away for good.
Wheeler recorded the win, pitching four innings and allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks and chalking up one strikeout.
Eureka finished with 15 hits in five innings. Voyles went 3-for-3 and drove in two. Tanksley, Bryant and Whisker each contributed two hits, including one double apiece.
Up Next
The Red Devils (8-7) will officially begin SLIAC play on Saturday with a 2 p.m. doubleheader at Webster (13-7-1).