KOKOMO, Ind. – Indiana Wesleyan Softball hosted Grace College at Championship Park in Kokomo due to field conditions at Sue Bowman Field on Thursday afternoon. Despite the new location, IWU played as if they had home field advantage, picking up a sweep over the Lancers. Game 1 ended with a 8-1 score and game 2 saw IWU double their run count to 16 in a 5 inning shutout.
Game 1 began with two scoreless frames before the Wildcats broke through with 2 runs on two singles from
Morgan Yeater and
Brylee Bilger. Grace cut the lead in half in the top of the 4th but IWU regained that run in the bottom of the 4th on a
Danica Fuller single. The 6th inning saw the offensive prowess of Indiana Wesleyan as they scored 5 runs highlighted by
Sara Ruble's first career home run, an inside-the-parker.
Isabelle Beidelschies went the distance in the circle, picking up her 10th win of the season.
IWU dominated from the jump in game 2. The offense picked up 1 run in the 1st, 2 runs in the 2nd, and 3 runs in the 3rd before exploding for 10 runs in the 4th inning.
Sara Ruble continued her great day by hitting a double and her first career triple and driving home 3 runs.
Morgan Yeater extended her streak of games with at least one hit to 7 while driving in 4 runners in game 2. Pitcher
Avery Toole had more strikeouts than base runners and joined fellow pitcher Beidelschies with her 10th win of the season.
THE ESSENTIALS
- Location: Kokomo, Indiana / Championship Park
- Records: IWU 20-8 (13-3) I GC 7-25 (1-17)
- Game One Score: IWU def. GC 6-3
- Game Two Score: IWU def. GC 16-0
GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
- Morgan Yeater broke the 0-0 tie with an RBI single that scored Whitney Waddell in the 3rd inning and was driven home by an RBI single from Brylee Bilger.
- Grace put up a run in the top of the 4th but Danica Fuller gained it right back by batting Ruble home in the bottom of the 4th.
- Two innings later, the Wildcats put up 5 runs to extend the lead to 8-1. Malayni Clemens got it started with a double to right center that scored Courtney Thomas and Leah May. Sara Ruble followed that up with an inside-the-park home run, her first career HR. Yeater bookended the game by hitting the final RBI to bring home Fuller.
- Isabelle Beidelschies picked up her 10th win of the season, pitching all 7 innings and only allowing 1 run.
GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
- IWU started the second game with 1 run in the 1st frame by way of a Maddie Martin single that drove home Whitney Waddell.
- The Wildcats put up 2 runs in the 2nd inning courtesy of a Yeater single and an error from Grace.
- Once again, IWU matched the run count with the inning number as they brought home 3 runners in the 3rd inning. Leah May brought home the first run and Danica Fuller doubled to score 2 more to make the advantage 6-0.
- After a 1-2-3 top of the 4th from pitcher Avery Toole, the offense got to work. The first four batters reached base safely whether by a hit or a walk with 2 runs scoring in that span. Later on, Madisyn Tharpe drew a walk with the bases loaded to bring home Brylee Bilger from 3rd base. In the next at-bat, Sara Ruble blasted her first career triple that cleared the bases. Fuller followed with her second RBI double of the game that made the score 13-0. An error from Grace allowed a run to score and then Ella Gearhart picked up the final 2 RBIs of the game with single through the middle.
- Avery Toole pitched a 5 inning shutout while striking out 5 batters while only allowing 3 hits. The freshman collected her 10th win of the year in 13 appearances.
KEY WILDCATS
RUBLE PERSPECTIVE
- "This team is just a joy to be around; I can't imagine playing with another group of girls because you know no matter what happens you have someone in your corner every step of the way," said junior Sara Ruble. "Today especially, this team just gives the glory right back to God and each other. We were challenged by our coach to truly have find joy and have fun and everyone was bought in and gave it there all!"
NEXT TIME OUT
- The Wildcats take to the road for a doubleheader at Spring Arbor tomorrow, April 3rd at 1:00 PM.
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS
#
