LISLE, Ill. - The Edgewood College softball team put themselves in early deficits they couldn't climb out of in a pair of losses at Benedictine, 5-3 and 11-3, on Thursday afternoon. Benedictine, also nicknamed the Eagles, jumped out to a 3-0 lead through the first inning of each game in Edgewood College's first games in over a week.
Benedictine belted two home runs in the first inning to outdo Hanna Fisher and the Eagle offense as Edgewood College dropped game one, 5-3, in a rare Thursday afternoon affair.
Fisher, the No. 2 hitter in the order, posted a game-high three hits and extended her hit streak to 11 games while leading an offense that racked up 11 hits. Leadoff hitter Laurissa Belott and Amanda Meister each added two hits as the top-3 batters in the order combined to go 7-for-11 while the rest of the offense wound up 4-for-21.
The aforementioned trio helped make things interesting going into the seventh and final inning. Down 5-1 to Benedictine, Callie Ziegler reached on a leadoff error to get things rolling. Belott and Fisher notched back-to-back singles to load the bases for Meister who then ripped a 2-run single to pull the Eagles to within two runs. With nobody out, three straight Eagles were retired to end the threat.
Maddie Minik's RBI double in the fourth scored the Eagles first run.
Starter Shannon Whitmus (6-5) took the loss after allowed five runs over six innings. It was her first defeat in her last seven appearances.
Moore and Boyajian each hit a home run and finished with two hits and two RBIs apiece to lead the Benedictine offense. Despite giving up all 11 hits, Benedictine starter Karlinski (12-4) continued her stellar freshman campaign by striking out seven and giving up three runs.
It was much of the same in game two as Edgewood College was scored on early and often in an 11-3 defeat over five innings.
Benedictine (16-9, 7-1 NACC) utilized five run-scoring doubles and scored three or more runs in three separate innings to win their sixth straight. A 4-run fourth inning pushed their lead to 11-1 and was enough to force their eighth run-rule victory of the season.
Edgewood College starter Maddy Coppens (3-2) was tagged for four runs in the first inning in only the second defeat of her career. The freshman, who typically starts the second game of doubleheaders, tossed all four innings and added one hit out of the ninth spot in the batting order.
Minik finished with two of the team's seven hits and scored on Sabrina Luedtke's RBI single up the middle in the second inning. It was all the offense could muster until scoring twice in the fifth thanks to an error and a Grace Delleman RBI single.
Senior Megan Hauge and pinch running freshman Grace Owens each scored a run for the Eagles.
Parney (3-4) picked up the win for Benedictine after allowed three runs (one earned) over five innings.
Next up for Edgewood College is a matchup with Concordia Chicago this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The Eagles will face the Cougars on the road, but will play the game as the home team since the game was originally scheduled to be hosted by the Eagles on Fri., April 20 until the recent bout of snow forced the venue change.
