Eureka Picks Up Sweep Over Mount Mary, 5-2, 7-1
EUREKA – The Eureka softball team picked up a pair of solid non-conference wins over Mount Mary on a chilly day at Sweitzer Field on Saturday.
The Red Devils topped the Blue Angels 5-2 in Game 1 and followed it with a 7-1 victory in Game 2.
The result moved the squad to 6-4 through the first 10 games of the 2024 season.
Game 1: Eureka 5, Mount Mary 2
Fresh off garnering her first-ever St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week award, Eureka sophomore Claire Wuethrich (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Christian) pieced together another efficient outing in the circle for the Red Devils.
She only allowed two runs on seven hits and four walks in five innings and had four strikeouts. After that, she handed it over to senior Kloey Wheeler (Farmington, Ill./Farmington Central), who retired six of seven batters faced and notched her first save of the season.
The Red Devils claimed the first run of the day in the first inning when leadoff hitter Macey Whisker (Washington, Ill./Washington/Illinois Central College) reached on an error, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on another one. The Blue Angels tied the game in the third, but the home team plated two more runs in the bottom half and never trailed the rest of the way.
Whisker drove in Gada Bryant (Westville, Ill./Bismark-Henning/Rossville-Alvin/Lincoln), who led off with a triple. Then, after stealing second and advancing to third on a groundout, she scored on an RBI single by Mackenzie Daniels.
In the fifth, Mount Mary manufactured another run to briefly make it a one-run game. KayLee Hohlbauch (Arcola, Ill./Arcola/Lincoln) scored on another wild pitch after singling and moving to third on a double by Daniels.
It was Whisker who plated an insurance run in the sixth, scoring Lexi Liptak (Lemont, Ill./Lemont). Whisker finished 2-for-4 with three stolen bases, two RBI and two runs scored. Daniels had two hits, including a double and an RBI single.
Game 2: Eureka 7, Mount Mary 1
Eureka tallied 12 runs and scored seven times in Game 2, with the majority coming in the first two innings.
Chloe Smith (Sullivan, Ill./Sullivan) put the Red Devils on the board with an RBI double and scored on an error in the first inning. An inning later, Eureka notched four runs on five hits, including an RBI triple by Whisker, an RBI single by Smith, an RBI double by Hohlbauch and an RBI single by Ashlyn Voyles (Farmer City, Ill./Farmer City).
Voyles also had a bunt single that drove in EC's last run of the day in the fifth. She went 3-for-3 on the day with a pair of RBI.
Whisker, Smith, Hohlbauch and Klaire Morris (Billings, Mont./Skyview) each contributed a pair of hits. Hohlbauch finished with a triple, a double, an RBI and a stolen base. Smith had two RBI and two stolen bases.
Pitcher Jeri Bradford (Homewood, Ill./Chicago Christian/Triton) recorded her second win of the season after throwing seven innings and only allowing one earned run on seven hits and one walk. She also had three strikeouts.
The Blue Angels loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh inning, but sophomore Rachel Dawson (Stanford, Ill./Homeschooled) came in and snuffed out the rally before the visitors could plate a run. She got a fly out and turned two to end it.
Up Next
Eureka (6-4) will turn around and host Rose-Hulman (8-6) in another non-conference doubleheader at Sweitzer Field on Sunday at 1 p.m.
