Contact:
Adam Poklop, Sport Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
APR. 28, 2019 – Looking to end the regular season on a high note, the North Central College Softball team delivered a pair of needed College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) victories over Augustana College (18-20, 7-9 CCIW) Sunday by scores of 11-3 and 5-5.
The first game saw North Central's offense at the best its been in several games compiling ten hits in the six-inning game. After
Emily Miller led off with a single and
Molly Cann drew a walk,
Rachele Belletini put the Cardinals on the board with an RBI single, finding the gap in shallow left field. But Augustana turned a double play and forced a groundout to prevent any more runs from coming across.
In the third inning, the Vikings loaded the bases and Carly Wilson connected for 2-RBI double, putting her team ahead 2-1. North Central batted around in the fifth inning, which saw eight consecutive Cardinals reach.
Jaime Smith and
Samantha Gadomski both tallied RBI-singles in the four-run inning, while Kelcie Frederickson walked in a run.
The Vikings got one back in the sixth, but that was no match for the six runs the Cardinals put up in the bottom half of the inning as they batted around for the second consecutive inning. With two outs,
Breanna Adams,
Lisa Harrington and Giana Corban knocked RBI-singles, followed by a walk to load the bases.
Molly Cann promptly singled through the left side, driving in the Cardinals final runs.
Adams (9-6) earned the win for the Cardinals, striking out two while surrendering three earned runs over six innings.
Belletini (two-for-three, one RBI and one run) and Adams (two-for three, one run and two RBIs) each recorded multiple hits. Adams was one of four Cardinals to tally multiple RBIs, as did Cann, Gadomski and Harrington.
Just like she did in the first game, Belletini drove in her team's first run in the nightcap, hitting a third-inning single into right field that allowed Corban to score, who had led off the inning with a triple down the right field line. Augustana only needed until the bottom half of the inning to knot the game up by hitting back-to-back triples.
But North Central found four runs in the fifth off of five hits. Belletini singled up the middle to score one, followed by an RBI-single from
Taylor Clugston. Not finished yet,
Jaime Smith laid down an RBI-bunt and Adams drove in one more with a single to right field.
Facing a four-run deficit, the Vikings didn't go down quietly. Picking up one run in the fifth off a wild pitch, Dina Falk drove in two more Vikings with a triple to left field to bring her team within one run. Although Alyssa Klahn hit a one-out double in the seventh to put the tying run in scoring position, Corban retired the next two hitters to end the game.
In the circle, Corban bettered her career best with 10 strikeouts, becoming the first Cardinal pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts since Andrea Starr '16 struck out 10 against Wisconsin Lutheran in 2015. The freshman moves to 12-6 on the season after allowing three earned runs in seven innings.
Clugston led the Cardinals at the plate, going three-for-four with a run and an RBI. Meanwhile, Cann was two-for-four with a run, while Belletini was two-for-four with a run and team-high two RBIs.
