FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Apr. 16, 2009)-- North Central College saw its four-game win streak come to a close Thursday afternoon, dropping both ends of a doubleheader against 20th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University in a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin softball game at IWU Field. The Titans took game one in dramatic fashion, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh for the 3-2 victory while winning 9-0 in five innings to complete the sweep.

The Cardinals struck first in the opener, plating a run in the second inning off a Holly Roadruck single, scoring Laura Whitfield. The Titans threatened in the third, loading the bases with one out before the Cardinals would escape the inning unscathed; throwing a runner out at the plate and getting a popout to retain the slim 1-0 lead.

Illinois Wesleyan's Christy Engel tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, hitting an RBI single while Monica Urban drove her home as the Titans took their first lead of the contest. The Cardinals would counter in the sixth, after a Roadruck single scored Erin Drennan, who reached on an error to begin the inning. The score would remain tied heading into the bottom of the seventh before an Allison Ward single drove in Urban for the winning run with just one out.

Roadruck (7-5) absorbed the loss, tossing six and one-third innings, allowing two earned runs while Engel (12-2) picked up the victory for IWU, pitching all seven innings, allowing no earned runs and fanning five batters.

Offensively, Roadruck accounted for three of the team's six hits, finishing the game three-for-three with two RBIs.  

Game two would not be as tightly contested as the homestanding Titans exploded for six runs in the top of the fifth to enact the mercy rule and come away with the 9-0 shutout win.

In the top of the first, a sacrifice fly by Valerie Hackett allowed Urban to cross the plate for the game's first run. The Titans would add two more in the third off a Ward home run shot to left center field. In the fifth, IWU tacked on six more runs with two coming off the bat of Hackett's single through the left side.

Hackett (8-1) earned the win, pitching all five innings for the shutout, striking out eight while issuing just two free passes. Brianna Nicholson (7-4) suffered the loss, tossing five innings in the circle, striking out one.

Roadruck once again led the offensive attack, accounting for two of the team's four hits, as she finished the series five-for-five at the plate.

The losses snap a four-game win streak for North Central as they fall to 15-9 overall and 7-3 in CCIW play while Illinois Wesleyan improves to 22-3 on the season and remains perfect in conference action at 8-0. The Cardinals have tomorrow off before returning to the diamond on Saturday, facing local rival Benedictine University at Shanower Field in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.