UPLAND, Ind. – The No. 18 Indiana Wesleyan softball team traveled to Upland to take on the Trojans of Taylor. The Wildcats won game 1 in the 9th inning by a score of 11-8. IWU locked down the Taylor offense in game 2 and won 9-0 in 6 innings.




 

THE ESSENTIALS

 

• Location: Upland, Indiana / Gudakunst Field
• Records: IWU 12-2, 4-0 I TU 11-5, 2-2
• Game One Score: IWU def. TU 11-8
• Game Two Score: IWU def. TU 9-0
• NAIA Top-25 Rankings: IWU - #18 | TU - Unranked

 

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

 

 

• Both teams were held scoreless in the first two innings of play.
• The Wildcats would break the tie first in the 3rd inning when, with the bases loaded, Abby Harvey batted in Leah May. Brylee Bilger would earn a walk that scored Whitney Waddell the next at bat. Later in the inning, Sadie Harding also got on base via a walk which scored Harvey. Ella Phillips kept the party going with a single up the middle that scored two more runners. The last run for the Wildcats came by way of a May SAC Fly that scored Harding. 
• Taylor answered back with a run of their own in the 3rd and IWU led 6-1.
• The Red and Grey scored two more runs in the 4th inning when Brylee Bilger sent a ball over the center field fence to make it 8-1.
• The Trojans scored two as well in the 4th and mounted a comeback in the 6th by scoring 5 runs to tie the game at 8-8. This sent the two teams into extra innings.
• After two scoreless innings, Bilger continued her great game by getting on base to open the 9th. Courtney Thomas walked and Sadie Harding loaded the bases with a bunt. Phillips came up big with a long SAC Fly to center field that scored both Wiberg (pinch runner for Bilger) and Thomas. Maddie Martin would bat in the 11th run for IWU with a double.
• In the bottom of the 9th, Martin made a fantastic defensive play by catching a hard line drive then tagging first to double up a runner. Malayni Clemens struck out the last batter and the Wildcats came away with the 11-8 win.

 

 

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

 

 

• Game 2 was all IWU as Clemens pitched 5 shutout innings with 7 strikeouts en route to her second win of the day.
• Waddell started the first inning with a walk the Morgan Yeater ran out a bunt single. Harvey smacked a single into right field to score Waddell and advance Yeater. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, Harding lined a single into left field to score Yeater. Once again, Phillips kept it going as she batted in Harvey to score the third and final run of the first inning.
• In the 3rd inning, Ella Phillips batted in yet another runner to extend the lead to 4-0. Then in the 4th the top of the lineup did their thing yet again. Waddell hit a double and Yeater followed up with a single. Abby Harvey sent a ball into the outfield to score Waddell from third and two batters later, Thomas reached first from an error by the defense which gave Yeater the chance to score. IWU left the inning with a 6-0 lead.
• The top of the 6th inning saw a Harvey RBI double and then Brylee Bilger hit her second 2 run HR of the day to get the score to 9.
• Isabelle Beidelschies came in to finish the game and shut down the Trojans. Maddie Martin made another great line drive catch at first base to end the game.

 

BILGER PERSPECTIVE

 

 

• Senior Brylee Bilger said, "The Lord was shining through our battle in the first game and we were able to worship the Him all the way through the second game. It was a great rivalry win!"

 

NEXT TIME OUT

 

 

• The Wildcats play at home versus Grace College Saturday, March 15th starting at 1:00 PM.
• Live video and stats will be available at IWUWildcats.com

 

FOLLOW THE WILDCATS

 

• Follow Athletics (@IWUWildcats): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Follow Softball (@IndWesSoftball): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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