Romeoville, Ill. – It was a pretty simple scenario for the Lewis softball team on Sunday. If they won two games and got some help they'd advance to the GLVC Tournament but if they split or lost two games their season would be over. Well, the Flyers did just that defeating Bellarmine 8-5 and 4-2 and with William Jewell's loss to Illinois Springfield it allowed Lewis to clinch its first appearance in the GLVC Tournament since 2015.
Game One Lewis 8, Bellarmine 5
Things didn't start well for the Flyers in the opener as the Knights (22-27, 10-16 GLVC) scored twice in the first inning on a home run from Hannah Webb and a sacrifice fly from Allison Woosley to take the early lead.
Lewis came back with a run in the home half of the first as
Elexis Swartzentruber (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) squeezed home
Morgan Weber (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) to make it 2-1. Lewis had a chance for more but left two runners on base.
Bellarmine added to its lead with a run in the third on an infield single by Grace Werner which allowed Carley Ziegler to score from second.
The Flyers took the lead scoring four times in the fourth thanks to a pair of home runs.
Dara Sanders (Crestwood, Ill./Mother McAuley) helped her own cause hitting a solo shot to left to lead-off the inning and later in the inning,
Morgan Weber (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) hit a three-run blast off the scoreboard in left to give Lewis a 5-3 lead.
The Flyers added to their lead scoring two more in the fifth. Swartzentruber led off the inning with home run to left and later in the inning
Jessica Lofthouse (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) dropped a single into left to score Sanders.
The Knights got a run back in the sixth on an infield single by Rachel Ayer to score Joelle Zielinski to make it 7-4.
Lewis scored again in the sixth as
Cassie Shaw (Moline, Ill./Moline) doubled to center to score Swartzentruber all the way from first with a big insurance run.
Bellarmine refused to go quietly though loading the bases with two out in the seventh and scored an unearned run to cut the lead to 8-5. Shaw came in for Sanders and got Ayer to ground out back to the circle to end the game.
Swartzentruber, Shaw,
Cierra Taylor (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) and
Olivia Magaldi (Mishawka, Ind./Penn) had two hits apiece for the Flyers. Sanders allowed five runs, three earned, on 11 hits with three strikeouts to get the victory and even her record at 10-10.
Game Two – Lewis 4, Bellarmine 2
The Knights grabbed the early lead in the nightcap scoring a run on a groundout with the bases loaded in the second. Shaw was able to limit the damage to just one run getting two more groundouts to end the inning.
Lewis was retired in order in each of the first three innings but things changed in the fourth. Weber led off the inning with a single to left and with two outs in the inning Swartzentruber hit a two-run bomb to left to put the Flyers ahead 2-1.
However, the lead didn't last long as Bellarmine tied the game in the fifth on a two-out double to right off the bat of Ayer to score Werner.
Lewis regained the lead in its half of the fifth. Sanders reached on an error to begin the inning and was run for by Allie Piatt. Piatt stole second and third and Kristin Kavaulaskas walked and stole second to put runners on second and third with two out. Magaldi came through with a key two-out hit driving a double to left center scoring both Piatt and Kavalauskas.
Shaw then set down the final six hitters in order to seal the victory.
The Flyers were outhit in game two 6-4 and were led by Weber, Swartzentruber, Shaw and Magaldi with a hit apiece. Shaw went the distance allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts to improve to 9-12 on the season.
Lewis will play its first game in the GLVC Tournament on Thursday (May 2) at 10 a.m. at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria, Ill. The Flyers are the eighth seed in the tournament and will take on the top seeded Missouri-St. Louis Tritons.
