By: Will Heidenreich, Sports Editor
In back-to-back games at Elmhurst College on Saturday, March 31, Illinois Wesleyan University softball shutout their opponents, winning their first game by a score of 5-0, and the second 3-0. These wins improved the Titans’ overall record to 13-3 and conference record to 6-0.
Through these two games, IWU had to use only two pitchers, sophomore Ally Weigand and senior Mackenzie Marquis.
Weigand, pitching a 5-0 shutout in the Titans first contest, allowed only four hits, striking out 9 and improving her overall record to 6-1.
Weigand is in the midst of an impressive season, carrying a 1.65 ERA and a 70:1 strikeout to walk ratio, ranking her No. 1 in all of NCAA DIII softball.
The Titans were held scoreless through only two innings, scoring three in the third, the first run by scored by senior Stephanie Prentice, driven in by senior Sam Berghoff’s single to left field.
Following Berghoff’s RBI, she advanced to scoring position, where she was driven-in by Shelby Fulk on a single.
Another Elmhurst error advanced Fulk to second, where she scored on the inning’s third single by sophomore Kara Bischoff, ending the inning with a 3-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, senior pinch hitter Summer Stitt drove in junior Jillian Runyon on a sacrifice fly, improving the Titans’ lead to 4-0.
The next inning, sophomore Britanny Murphy scored the final run of the game on Elmhurst’s fourth error.
Despite their efforts, the Bluejays met the same demise in the day’s second contest. In similar fashion, senior Mackenzie Marquis pitched the day’s second consecutive shutout, improving her overall record to 3-0, allowing only three hits, one walk and striking out two.
Scoreless through four, Murphy drove-in the first runs of the game on an RBI single to left, giving the Titans a 2-0 lead entering the sixth inning.
The third and final run of the game was scored in the following inning by Berghoff on a sacrifice fly.
Runyon, recording three stolen bases in the double-header, had two hits in the second game along with Murphy and sophomore Mia Massaro.
The NCAA DIII No. 3 ranked Titans will look to improve their overall record to 15-3 this Friday and Saturday, April 6 and 7, in home games vs Buena Vista University.