Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

DECATUR, Ill. (May 14th, 2021) - Playing in day four of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament, the North Central College softball team beat Carroll 3-0 in their first game of the day before falling to the two-seeded Titans of Illinois Wesleyan at Workman Family Field in Millikin.

Following two scoreless innings, the Cardinals struck first as Del Re singled in the third inning before Jaime Smith moved her over on a sacrifice bunt. Emilly Miller drove Del Re home in the next at-bat, giving North Central an early 1-0 advantage.

In the top half of the fifth inning, Breanna Adams used an RBI single to score Alexa Sherlund to add to the Cardinals lead. Tacking on another insurance run in the seventh, Del Re scored her second run of the game while Miller drove in second of the contest as the Cardinals went onto win the first game of the day, 3-0. In the circle, Adams threw a complete game shutout to push North Central into the next round.

The Cardinals went on to face Illinois Wesleyan in game 15 of the conference tournament. The Titans got on the board first in the top half of the opening inning, but the Cardinals answered with two runs of their own. Miller plated Del Re to knot the game at one before Talia Torosian singled up the middle to score Adams, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead after the first inning.

The Titans tied the contest up in the fourth, but again North Central responded as Del Re took advantage of a Titan error, as Torisian crossed home plate to give the Cardinals the lead back. Illinois Wesleyan posted four runs in the top half of the sixth inning as they re-took the lead, 7-3.

North Central was unable to climb back into the game as they fell 7-3 to conclude their season. With her hit in game one, Del Re set a new single-season record for consecutive games with a hit at 25. Miller finished her career tied for the best batting average in program history (.424) while the pitching staff recorded 196 strikeouts on the year, good for third in a single season. The Cardinals finish the year with a 23-20 overall record.

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