Red Devils Drop Pair on Day 2 in Myrtle Beach
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Eureka softball team dropped a pair of games on Day 2 of the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic on Monday.
The Red Devils took on Penn State-Harrisburg and fell victim to a very good pitching performance in an 8-0 in the first game of the day.
Then, Monday evening, the Red Devils came up short 9-8 in eight innings against Centenary (N.J.)
Game 1: Penn State-Harrisburg 8, Eureka 0
The Red Devils just couldn't get anything going against Penn State-Harrisburg's Carissa Yeager. Raelyn Payne (Lexington, Ill./Lexington) led off the fourth inning by reaching on an error and stealing second, but a ground-out and strikeout later, PSH ended the threat.
She ended up being Red Devils' only baserunner in five innings. Yeager struck out six and didn't walk any in five nearly perfect innings.
Penn State Harrisburg scored three runs in the first, four in the third and added one more in the fourth to put the Nittany Lions in position to end it early.
Game 2: Centenary 9, Eureka 8 (5 inn.)
In the second game of the day, the Red Devils had the upper hand until late in the game.
Eureka scored six runs on four hits to take a 6-0 lead in the third inning, but Centenary cut it in half with a three-run fourth inning.
After a scoreless fifth, the Red Devils added another run on an RBI single by Payne in the sixth to make it a four-run cushion.
The Cyclones, however, scored two in the sixth and two more in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra innings tied 7-7.
In the eighth, the Red Devils successfully manufactured the go-ahead run.
Pitcher Sidney Wightman (Waterloo, Ill./Gibault Catholic) set it up, helping her own cause with a one-out single up the middle.
Elly Maier (Clinton, Ill./Clinton) moved Wightman to second with a sacrifice bunt, then pinch runner Abby Newmister (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic) took Wightman's place on second.
That brought up No. 9 hitter Christine Mepham (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais), who stepped up to the plate and smashed an RBI triple to right-center.
That moment would have been a thrilling way to end it, but the Red Devils still had to get three outs to seal it.
And in the bottom half, Centenary took advantage of a pair of untimely Eureka errors and junior Maggie Lenahan poked a walk-off two-run double to end it.
Eureka recorded a season-high 11 hits in the loss.
Payne, Mackenzie Daniels (Monticello, Ill./Monticello) and Delaney Douglas (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) each had multi-hit games.
In addition to Mepham's triple in the eighth, Tressa Grisham (Morton, Ill./East Peoria) and Douglas both tripled during the Red Devils' six-run third, while Bria Wessel (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) recorded a double. Bri Tanksley (Spring Bay, Ill./Metamora) contributed a hit as well.
Up Next
After playing four games in two day, the Red Devils (1-3) will have a day off on Tuesday, then they'll wrap up the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic on Wednesday with a 10:30 a.m. contest against Cedar Crest (2-3) and a 4:30 p.m. matchup against Gettysburg (3-1).