Contact: Adam Poklop, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Game One Box Sore

Game Two Box Score

Mar. 22, 2019 – The North Central College softball team added two more games to the win column Friday, posting 6-4 and 7-1 victories over the Eureka College Red Devils in its first games at Shanower Family Field to improve to 10-0 on the season. 

Jordan Raszeja put the Cardinals on the board in game one with an RBI single up the middle that scored Jaime Smith, who led off the inning with a single of her own. The Cardinals struck again in the third inning, when an error allowed Smith to score.  

The Cardinals tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning off three hits and an error. After Rachele Belletini hit a sacrifice fly to bring in a run, Samantha Godomski's two-out double allowed two more Cardinals to cross the plate.  

But the Red Devils didn't go down without a fight, scoring four runs in the sixth inning to bring themselves within a run. The Cardinals had no answer for Eureka, whose first four batters doubled, tripled, doubled and walked. After three Red Devils had scored, Gianna Corban entered the game to try and find a way out of the jam, and succeeded in getting three outs in a row, although Eureka scored once more on a sacrifice fly.

Emily Miller helped the Cardinals distance themselves from Eureka in the bottom of the sixth, belting a homerun over the right field fence to put the game at 6-4. Corban tallied three strikeouts in the top of the seventh to close game one.

Breanna Adams was credited with the win, improving to 4-0 on the year, while Corban earned her second save. Belletini (three-for-four) and  Smith (two-for-three) each tallied two runs, while Gadomski finished with a game-high two RBI.

Although the Cardinals only surrendered one run in the second game – which came in the seventh inning, after the game's outcome was already a foregone conclusion — Eureka outhit North Central eight to six, but left a lofty eight runners on base.

Game two saw North Central put up all seven of its runs in the first two innings, scoring two in the first and five the following inning. Smith and Molly Cann each knocked RBI-singles in the first inning, although the Cardinals left the bases loaded. The hosts showcased their offense in the second inning, while benefiting from some sloppy play that allowed Cann to score on a wild pitch and walked in two more runs.

Picking up where she left off in game one, Corban struck out nine Red Devils in seven innings. While she kept Eureka off the scoreboard until the seventh, she had to maneuver out of a few binds, as three innings ended with Eureka having two baserunners. Smith picked up a game-high 2 RBI, and Adams scored two of North Central's runs.

The Cardinals' 10-0 run matches their best start to a season since the 2015 team, who also won 10-straight before losing at Saint Mary's College — the Cardinals next opponent. Before that, the 2013 Cardinals team won its first 19 games in route to a 35-12 season. 

North Central faces Saint Mary's College (1-10) in a doubleheader at Shanower Family Field Saturday, with game one set to begin at 1 p.m.