URBANA, Ill. - Despite a strong showing by the Jaguars in the second game of a scheduled double-header, the softball team (7-13) dropped both matchups with Illinois (14-7) Tuesday (March 15), as the search for consistency in the early parts of the 2015-16 season continue.
The Jags were paced in game two by senior pitcher
Brooke Boetjer, who threw seven and a third innings of work, giving up just six hits and three earned runs in the losing effort. Boetjer also added three strikeouts and a walk to her stat line.
Ali Mosier and
Ashley Ousley each had a hit, a run batted in (RBI) and a walk in the later contest, while
Morgan Schlobohm,
Taylor Chitwood,
Roni Patterson and
Alyssa Neff each found the hit column as well.
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Jaguars were the victims of a stellar pitching performance by Illinois' Jade Vecvanags, who put together four innings of what would eventually be determined a no-hitter. Kate Giddens pitched a perfect fifth inning to secure the no-no, which didn't become official until after the game, when a ruling was made to change an IUPUI hit to an error.
In game two, the Jaguars found themselves down by a run after Boetjer surrendered a solo homerun in the bottom of the third inning. It was a stalemate between the pitchers for each team after that, until IUPUI broke through in the sixth inning. Patterson led off the inning with a double to left field, then rounded third and came home on a single by Mosier. After a groundout and a walk, Mosier and Neff would both come home to score on a throwing error by the shortstop, giving the Jags' their first lead of the day. The Fighting Illini would add a run in the bottom of the sixth and eventually tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning on a fielding error by IUPUI with two outs. The Jags' would reclaim the lead in the top of the eighth inning on an Ousley single that would plate Patterson, but would eventually fall after giving up two runs in the bottom half.
With the loss, the Jags' will now look to the NC State RDU Doubletree Invite tournament (March 18-20) in Raleigh, N.C. for the final tournament action before the start of their conference schedule. At the conclusion of the tournament, IUPUI will play a single game against the University of Illinois-Chicago (March 21) before taking on Omaha to start Summit League play.
