By ISU Sports Information
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Illinois State softball team battled, but dropped a pair of games Saturday at the Purple and Gold Challenge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. ISU fell to Texas Tech, 5-2, before losing to No. 5 LSU, 9-1 in five innings.
The losses drop Illinois State to 3-10 overall and 0-3 on the weekend. ISU finishes the trip at LSU Sunday morning with a 10 a.m. game against Texas Tech.
Game 1: Texas Tech 5 – Illinois State 2
Pitchers ruled for the first three innings of Saturday’s first game as Sarah Finck and Texas Tech’s Cheyene Powell dueled in the early innings. The two allowed just three combined hits in the first three innings and it took only 30 minutes to play the first half of the game.
However, Texas Tech’s offense woke up in the top of the fourth as it compiled four hits and scored two runs in the frame. Regan Romshek entered in relief and got the Redbirds out of a bases loaded jam. In the bottom of the inning, ISU attempted to rally, but Romshek was thrown out at the plate for the final out of the inning.
Texas Tech added an unearned run in the top of the fifth to extend the lead to three, but ISU struck back in the bottom of the frame. Allison Spence led off with a single and two batters later Payton Billups crushed her second home run of the season to make it 3-2. The rally knocked Powell out of the game, but the Redbirds were unable to tie the game, leaving two runners in scoring positon.
A well-executed pickoff attempt in the top of the sixth got ISU out of the inning with a runner left at third for Texas Tech, but the Redbird offense went down in order in the bottom of the frame. The Red Raiders added two more runs in the seventh with a two-RBI double.
Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh, ISU was able to get one batter on base, but could not score. Finck took the loss for the Redbirds to fall to 3-4 on the season. Billups led the way for the ISU offense, going 1-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs. Riley Strandgard added a 2-for-3 effort with a double.
“Offensively, I felt like we got our bats going and had consecutive quality at-bats,” said head coach Melinda Fischer. “Texas Tech had the big home run in the fourth and we have to be able to take those kinds of hits away. We did have good execution in the circle for a few innings, but we have to find consistency.”
Game 2: LSU 9 – Illinois State 1 (5 inn.)
For the second time in as many days, Illinois State jumped out to an early lead against the fifth-ranked Tigers. In the top of the first inning, Annie Heineman singled up the middle and advanced to second on a single from Jordan de los Reyes. Strandgard then reached on a fielding error, which allowed Heineman to score.
LSU quickly erased the lead in the bottom of the first after an error and a hit by pitch allowed two runs to cross the plate against ISU starter Sarah Finck. Finck was able to get out of the inning and leave the bases loaded, but LSU would never look back after getting the lead.
Finck kept the Tiger offense in check for the next two innings, but LSU’s bats came to life in fourth. A walk and an error led to one run before Sahvanna Jaquish hit a three-run homer to extend the LSU lead to 6-1.
The Redbirds fought back in the top of the fifth inning by loading the bases with one out. However, LSU was able to retire de los Reyes and Romshek in order to get out of the inning with no damage done. In the bottom of the inning, Constance Quinn doubled off the wall to score a run and Jaquish doubled in two more runs to claim the early victory for LSU.
LSU outhit ISU 9-4 in the game and three of the Tigers’ hits were for extra bases. Finck took the loss to fall to 3-5 on the season. She gave up six runs, but only three were earned as the ISU defense committed five errors in the game.
Heineman led the ISU offense, finishing 1-for-2 with a hit, run scored and a walk.
“You’re going to have to do some amazing things to beat a team like LSU,” said Fischer. “They had a big inning in the fourth and that has been our demise against these high-caliber teams this season. They have the big inning and we are unable to stop them. We have a quality performance up through the third or fourth inning, but after that it has been difficult.”
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