The Western Illinois University Fighting Leatherneck softball team played on Sunday (Feb. 20), closing out the final day of the Razorback Invitational with a split of two games against Longwood and tournament hosts Arkansas.
Game one: Western Illinois 3 – 1 Longwood
Abby Carlin started in the circle for Western Illinois and had her best performance of the young season, going the distance to earn her third win of the season. Across seven innings she allowed six hits and one run (one earned), striking out a season-high nine opposing hitters. The Lancers went a combined 6-26 (.230) in the game and the performance brings Carlin's ERA down to 2.51 for the year, which is the lowest among Leatherneck pitchers.
Offensively, Western Illinois earned its first run of the game off the long ball, with Georgia Rea sending a ball over the left field fence in the bottom of the second to tie the game at one. It's the first homerun of Rea's career, and the first of the season for Western Illinois. Three innings later with the game still tied at one, Kayla Zamora singled up the middle to score Daytona Dooley and Torince Muczynski to give Western Illinois a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth. Zamora now has seven hits on the young season, and the Leatherneck advantage would hold through the end of the game.
Game two: Western Illinois 3 – 13 Arkansas
Game two against the tenth-ranked Razorbacks started off quickly, with Ami Ill singling to center and stealing second during the next at bat. After Savannah Rodriguez was unable to get on base, Georgia Rea blasted her second home run of the day to left field, giving Western Illinois a 2-0 advantage in the top half of the first inning. Daytona Dooley added the first home run of her collegiate career in the third inning, squaring up the first pitch of the at bat and sending it over the left field wall to cut the Arkansas advantage down to three.
Three different Leathernecks pitched in the game, with Emily Price earning the start and finishing with three earned runs and one strikeout. Savannah Rodriguez then came on in relief and struck out one in 1.2 innings of work, with the Razorbacks hitting two homeruns and extending their lead. Lilli Weir finished the game with 1.1 innings of work and struck out two, with Arkansas scoring five runs and building the lead to 10.
Western Illinois is back in action on March 5, heading to Bloomington, Ind., to face Valparaiso and Indiana.
Alerts Sign-up