WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Lewis University's softball team split a pair of contests on the third day of its Spring Break trip on Monday. The Flyers (9-5) rallied for 10-9 nine inning winning streak over Upper Iowa in the opener but fell to Walsh 1-0 in the night cap.
Game 1 – Lewis 10 Upper Iowa 9 9 innings
Lewis jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the home half of the first thanks to four straight hits with two out.
Meghan Bontrager (Milford, Ind./Northridge) drove in the first run with a single to short to score
Sara Serena (Kankakee, Ill./Kankakee) and
Maggie Joutras (Shorewood, Ill./Providence Catholic High School) followed with a single to shallow right to drive in
Evie Calderon (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young).
The Peacocks (5-6) took advantage of two Flyer errors in a five-run third inning. Ari Charles had the big blow in the inning hitting a two-run double to left center.
Lewis scored four times in the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead. Calderon drove in the first run with a single deflected by the pitcher. Joutras tied the game hitting a double inside the third base bag to drive in Serena and Calderon and
Jalyn Powell (Tolono, Ill./Unity) followed with a double to left to drive in Joutras with the go-ahead run.
Upper Iowa tied the game in the sixth on a two-out single up the middle off the bat Katie Crogan that scored Sara Jessie.
The Peacocks retook the lead in the eighth as Charles scored on a throwing error by
Delaney Garden (Carpentersville, Ill./H.D. Jacobs) on sac bunt from Samantha Jessie.
The Flyers tied the game in its half of the eighth as Powell drove in Bontrager with the tying run on a groundout to second.
Upper Iowa retook the lead in the ninth on a two-run single up the middle off the bat of Charles.
Lewis scored three times in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. Serena drove in the tying run with a single up the middle and then with the bases loaded and no out Bontrager hit a ball up the middle that was knocked down by the shortstop but not before Young scored the winning run.
The Flyers had 14 hits in the contest and were led by Serena and Powell with three apiece. Calderon, Bontrager and Joutras each had two hits in the contest. Garden pitched the final five innings in relief of
Payton Wuske (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) and allowed four runs, two earned, on four hits with seven strikeouts to improve to 4-1 on the season.
Game 2 – Walsh 1 Lewis 0
Lewis had a chance to break on top early in the night cap putting runners at second and third with one out in the top of the first but both runners were left stranded.
Kaelyn Leverson (Atlanta, Ill./Olympia) held the Cavaliers hitless through the first four innings but had to work out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning to keep the game scoreless.
The Flyers had another chance to break the scoreless deadlock in the fourth loading the bases with two out but a foul out to the catcher ended the inning.
Lewis got a leadoff walk in the seventh inning but couldn't move her around.
Walsh took advantage of a lead-off walk in the bottom of the seventh. Bryn Elliott moved the winning run to second with a sacrifice bunt and then Sarah Moats hit a sharp single left.
Emma Young (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) charged it but the ball slid under her glove and went all the way to the fence allowing Ellie Jackson to score the winning run.
The Flyers were held to four hits in the contest with Calderon, Serena, Powell and
Kristin Kavalauskas (Oak Forest, Ill./Tinley Park) recording one hit apiece. Leverson was the tough luck loser allowing the one run on three hits with three strikeouts but walked four to fall to 0-2 on the season.
Lewis is back in action on Tuesday as it takes on Lake Erie College at 9 a.m. (CST) and St. Cloud State at 11:15 a.m. (CST) at DiamondPlex in Winter Haven, Fla.
