Softball

Category: Softball

Lawrence splits doubleheader with Bucs

BELOIT, Wis. — The Lawrence University softball team rallied to win the nightcap against Beloit College on Saturday after dropping a heartbreaker in the opener at the Strong Stadium Complex.

Beloit (6-24, 4-6 MWC) won the opener 2-1 in eight innings, and Lawrence (13-11, 3-5) took the second game 5-4.

In the second game, Lawrence trailed 3-0 early but came back to win it in the final inning. The Vikings scored an unearned run in the third and added another run in the fourth when Alex Chiodo walked and later scored on Alissa Geipel’s triple to trim the margin to 3-2.

Beloit got a run back in the bottom half of the inning to push the lead to 4-2, but the Vikings scored twice in the top of the fifth. Chiodo singled to score Shannon Murray, and Taylor Dodson later singled to score Chiodo to tie it at 4-4.

The score stayed that way until the top of the seventh when Anna Wawiorka started the rally with a one-out single. She stole second and went to third on a wild pitch before Chiodo tripled to drive her in for a 5-4 lead.

Murray, who had come on in relief of starter Kara Vance, worked around a lead-off double in the bottom half of the inning to secure the win. Murray went 2.2 innings and allowed three hits.

Chiodo went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs, and Murray and Geipel both had two hits for the Vikings.

In the opener, it was a pitchers’ duel as both teams were held scoreless through seven innings.

Lawrence took a 1-0 lead in the top of the eighth. Wawiorka reached on a bunt single and went to second on a throwing error. After Chiodo singled and stole second, the Vikings had runners at second and third. Geipel’s groundout scored Wawiorka, but that was all the Vikings would get in the inning.

Tala-Marie Cornell led off the bottom half of the inning with a homer against Murray to tie the game at 1-1. After Bethany Stavrakas followed with a single, she went to second on a sacrifice bunt and moved to third on a wild pitch. Emily Dorjath’s single to left field scored Stravrakas to win it for Beloit.

Jen Zucker went the distance and got the win for Beloit. She allowed three hits, struck out seven and walked one. Murray went the distance for Lawrence, allowed seven hits, struck out five and walked three.

Lawrence returns to action on Sunday when it travels to Ripon College.

Game one box score

Game two box score

Vikings fall to Illinois College 4-1

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — The Illinois College softball team limited Lawrence University to only three hits en route to a 4-1 victory over the Vikings on Sunday at the Midwest Conference Classic.

Alese Speckhart went the distance for Illinois College (14-11, 5-3 MWC) to get the win. She struck out one and walked three.

The Lady Blues scored two runs in the first and another in the second to build an early 3-0 lead. Lawrence (12-10, 2-4) countered with a run in the bottom of the third on Cathy Kaye’s lead-off homer. Illinois College added an insurance run in the top of the fourth to complete the scoring.

Courtney Kwasnitza and Paige Meyer had two hits apiece for Illinois College, and Paige Cullison drove in a pair of runs.

Kara Vance pitched the first four innings and took the loss. She allowed seven hits and four runs, three earned.

Lawrence finished with a 2-4 mark against the South Division at the MWC Classic. Lawrence opens play against the North Division when it travels to Ripon College on Thursday.

Monmouth shuts out Vikings 3-0

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — The Monmouth College softball team parlayed four hits into three runs and downed Lawrence University 3-0 on Sunday at the Midwest Conference Classic.

Monmouth (14-10, 6-4 MWC) got a solo homer from Caitlin Lingle and then added a pair of insurance runs late to top the Vikings (12-9, 2-3).

Lingle gave the Scots the lead with her solo shot to lead off the bottom of the second. Monmouth added two runs in the sixth on a single, an error, a wild pitch and a run-scoring single.

Alyssa Edler went the distance to get the win for Monmouth. She limited Lawrence to four hits, struck out three and walked one. Shannon Murray went the distance for Lawrence and took the loss. She also gave up four hits, struck out six and walked two.

Lawrence shuts out Grinnell 8-0

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Shannon Murray and Jessica Demski combined to limit Grinnell College to only four hits as the Lawrence University softball team downed the Pioneers 8-0 on Saturday at the Midwest Conference Classic.

Murray tossed the first three innings, allowing two hits, striking out five and walking none, to get the win. Demski pitched the final three innings, allowed two hits, struck out two and didn’t walk a batter.

Alissa Geipel, Anna Wawiorka, Cory Paquette and Murray all had two hits for the Vikings, who piled up 12 hits against Grinnell starter Summer Wilke.

Lawrence took the lead with three runs in the second on two hits, but the Vikings got help in the form of three Grinnell errors in the frame. Lawrence added a run in the third to push the lead to 4-0 on Wawiorka’s RBI single.

The Vikings pulled away with three more runs in the fourth. Murray drove in a run with a bases-loaded groundout, Lawrence went up 7-0 when two more runs scored after an error on Wawiorka’s ground ball.

Lawrence pushed the margin to the eight-run rule when Wawiorka belted a run-scoring double in the sixth to score Geipel.

Lawrence wraps up play at the MWC Classic on Sunday by facing Monmouth College and Illinois College. Lawrence is now 2-2 for the event.

Homers power Lake Forest past Lawrence

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — The Lake Forest College softball team hit eight home runs and rolled to a 19-3 victory over Lawrence University at the Midwest Conference Classic on Saturday.

Whitney Leiderman hit three homers and drove in seven runs for the Foresters (11-9, 7-0 MWC) on her way to going 4-for-5. Kayla Borgra went 3-for-5 and also homered for Lake Forest.

Alissa Geipel went 3-for-3 and belted a homer for Lawrence (11-8, 1-2). Cathy Kaye went 2-for-4 for the Vikings, who finished with 10 hits.

Jessi Werner went the distance for Lake Forest, allowing 10 hits over six innings while striking out four and walking one. Shannon Murray pitched the first two innings, allowed five hits and five runs, and took the loss.

Lake Forest held a 5-3 lead heading to the fourth inning when the Foresters added two runs to pull away. The Foresters then scored 12 times in the sixth to end the contest. Vasi Panos hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the sixth for Lake Forest.

Lawrence falls to Cornell in extra innings

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — The Lawrence University softball team dropped a 6-4 decision to Cornell College on Friday at the Midwest Conference Classic.

Rebekah Ozga hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to win it for the Rams (9-7, 2-3 MWC).

Lawrence (11-7, 1-1) had grabbed a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth when the game went to the international tiebreaker rule. Alex Chiodo delivered a two-out double to score Kara Vance and the Vikings had the lead.

Britt Schoon’s run-scoring single in the bottom half of the inning tied it for Cornell, and Ozga hit a two-out, two-run homer to end it.

Lawrence trailed 1-0 heading to the top of the fifth when the Vikings scored three times. Cory Paquette started the rally with a single, and Cathy Kaye then greeted relief pitcher Jackie Sernek with a two-run homer to put the Vikings up 2-1. Tierney Duffy followed with a single, stole second and scored on Shannon Murray’s single for a 3-1 edge.

Lawrence held that lead until Schoon hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to force the extra frames.

Murray went the distance and took the loss for Lawrence. She also went 3-for-5 and drove in a run for the Vikings. Chiodo, Paquette and Taylor Dodson all collected two hits for Larwence.

Sernek went 4.2 innings and picked up the win in relief.  

Lawrence returns to action at the MWC Classic on Saturday when it faces Grinnell College and Lake Forest College.

Vikings no-hit, blow out Knox at MWC Classic

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Three Lawrence University pitchers combined to fire a no-hitter as the Vikings opened the Midwest Conference Classic with an 11-0 victory over Knox College on Friday.

Shannon Murray, Kara Vance and Jessica Demski combined for the fourth no-hitter in Lawrence softball history. Murray was the starter and this is the third no-hitter with which she has been involved. She fired a no-hitter against Alverno College in 2010 and no-hit Grinnell College at the MWC Classic in 2012.

Murray pitched the first two innings, Vance completed the next two innings and Demski pitched the final inning as Lawrence closed the game out on the eight-run rule. The only runner for Knox (3-16, 2-5 MWC) was on a walk in the third, but that runner was erased on a double play so the Vikings faced the minimum. Murray struck out two and Vance added a strikeout.

Lawrence (11-6, 1-0) blew the game open in the first inning by scoring 11 times in the bottom half of the frame. The Vikings pounded out 11 hits against Knox starter Amber Eisha in the inning. Murray started the scoring with a run-scoring single, and Taylor Dodson added a two-run double. Alex Chiodo had a run-scoring double, and Alissa Geipel later added a two-run single. Cathy Kaye had a run-scoring single, and Murray then delivered a two-run double before a run-scoring double from Anna Wawiorka.

Murray went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and three runs batted in. Wawiorka and Kaye both went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a RBI. Savanna Marsicek also had a pair of hits for the Vikings.

Lawrence faces Cornell College later this afternoon in the tournament which pits North Division teams against their South Division rivals. The Vikings play two more games on Saturday and two on Sunday.

Box score

 

Softball doubleheader at Alverno postponed

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University softball doubleheader scheduled for Tuesday at Alverno College has been postponed.

No make-up date has been announced.

Lawrence is scheduled to return to action on Friday when it heads to the Midwest Conference Classic in East Peoria, Ill., to face South Division opponents over a three-day period. Lawrence currently has a 10-6 record.

Lawrence fires pair of shutouts at Regents

ROCKFORD, Ill. — The Lawrence University softball team fired a pair of shutouts at Rockford College on Sunday, defeating the Regents 5-0 in the opener and 3-0 in the nightcap.

Shannon Murray and Liz Barthels limited the Regents to just five hits in the opener, and Kara Vance and Murray held Rockford to six hits in the nightcap.

In the first game, Lawrence (10-6) pounded out 14 hits against Rockford starter Brittany Bura. Anna Wawiorka went 3-for-4 to pace Lawrence’s attack, and Murray, Taylor Dodson and Savanna Marsicek all had two hits.

Lawrence scored twice in the top of the first with Dodson delivering a run-scoring single and Marsicek added a run-scoring double. The Vikings made it 3-0 in the fourth when Katie Schumacher belted a run-scoring double.

Dodson added a RBI double in the fifth to put Lawrence up 4-0, and Tierney Duffy drove in a run with a single in the sixth to finish the scoring.

Murray pitched six innings, allowing four hits while striking out four and walking one. Liz Barthels pitched a scoreless seventh for the Vikings.

The Vikings scored late to win a tight contest in the second game.

Lawrence broke a scoreless tie with a run in the fifth. After Alissa Geipel’s infield single and a walk put two runners aboard, Cathy Kaye singled to score Geipel for a 1-0 lead. Kaye went 3-for-3 to pace the Lawrence offense.

Rockford (3-15) threatened to tie it in the bottom half of the inning after getting runners to second and third with one out. Lawrence starter Kara Vance was relieved by Murray, who got a pair of comebackers to get out of the jam.

Lawrence added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh. Katie Schumacher drew a one-out walk and Kaye followed with a single. After a strikeout, Wawiorka belted a two-run double to give the Vikings a 3-0 edge.

Murray then worked around a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh to complete the shutout.

Vance allowed four hits in 4.1 innings to get the win. Murray worked the final 2.2 innings to pick up her fourth save of the season.

Game one box score

Game two box score