DEFIANCE, Ohio – No. 15 Indiana Wesleyan Softball played against Defiance College this afternoon in two rescheduled games from earlier this season. IWU was dominant in game 1 winning 13-2 in 5 innings. In game 2, the Wildcats made an incredible 7th inning comeback to win 8-4.



 

THE ESSENTIALS

 

• Location: Defiance, Ohio / Sal Hench Field
• Records: IWU 21-3, 11-1 I DC 7-15, 0-0
• Game One Score: IWU def. DC 13-2
• Game Two Score: IWU def. DC 8-4
• NAIA Top-25 Rankings: IWU - #15 | MVNU - Unranked

 

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

 

 

• Game 1 started with a bang for IWU. Whitney Waddell started the inning with a single and Morgan Yeater followed up with a triple to score her. Brylee Bilger hit her 7th HR of the season to make the lead 3-0 after 4 batters. Both Sadie Harding and Ella Phillips would hit singles with Harding scoring on Phillips' hit. Maddie Martin came up and hit the second HR of the inning to extend the lead. After Leah May and Waddell got on base, Yeater hit her second triple of the inning scoring both. Abby Harvey hit her own single that scored Yeater and the last run of the inning came when Bilger doubled which scored Harvey. IWU left the inning up 10-0.
• Jordyn Ball started once more for the Wildcats and pitched two straight scoreless innings.
• Indiana Wesleyan added a run in the 2nd inning when May batted home Arie Hackett.
• In the top of the 3rd, Chloe Poe earned a walk with the bases loaded extending the lead to 12-0.
• Defiance scored 1 run in the bottom of the 3rd but IWU gained that run right back in the top of the 4th. Bilger hit her second single of the game that brought home Maddie Seitz.
• Defiance gained 1 more run in the bottom of the 5th but IWU closed out the game to win 13-2 in 5 innings.
• Brylee Bilger went 4 for 4 at the plate for the game, only missing a triple to hit for the cycle while the team recorded their highest total hits in a game this season with 21!

 

 

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

 

 

• Defiance College came out in game 2 with some fire as they held IWU scoreless in the first 4 innings.
• The Yellow Jackets scored in the 1st and 3rd innings to take a 2-0 lead into the 5th inning.
• IWU earned one run back when Yeater batted home Emma Wiberg in the top of the 5th. However, Defiance put up 2 runs of their own in the bottom of the 5th to lead 4-1.
• Ella Phillips scored Maddie Seitz with a single in the top of the 6th to cut the lead to 2. 
• Isabelle Beidelschies pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 6th inning and IWU was down to its last 3 outs in the top of the 7th.
• Morgan Yeater and Abby Harvey both reached and ended up at second and third after a double steal. Brylee Bilger started the comeback with a single that scored Yeater. Right after, Courtney Thomas tied the game with a single that brought Harvey home. A Sadie Harding walk loaded the bases and a wild pitch scored Chloe Poe, who had pinch ran for Bilger. Phillips earned 2 RBIs to extend the new lead to 3 runs. Casey Cirillo pinch ran for Phillips and subsequently stole third. Beideschies flied out to CF but an errant throw allowed Cirillo to reach home safely. IWU led 8-4 going into the bottom of the 7th.
• Emma Etter-Cox came in to pitch the 7th and closed out the win.

 

BABINSKI PERSPECTIVE

 

 

• "This team's grit really showed today," said Head Coach Steve Babinski. "We were down to our last 2 outs against a tough pitcher and our squad lifted each other's arms up and we never gave up! This team is truly a very special team!"

 

NEXT TIME OUT

 

 

• The Wildcats take on Marian University at home on March 28th starting at 4:00 PM.
• Live video and stats will be available at IWUWildcats.com

 

FOLLOW THE WILDCATS

 

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