Walters and Adams again power Cougars Softball to doubleheader sweep
Alex Staab – ICC Harbinger
West Burlington, Iowa – It was a perfect fall day for some softball in the state of Iowa Saturday, as the Illinois Central College Cougars took on the Blackhawks from Southeastern Iowa.
The Cougars brought their bats across state lines in a big way, tacking on a run in the first off an RBI groundout from Megan Adams (Fr. – Moline) to put ICC up 1-0.
In the second inning, Lou McWhirter (Fr. – East Peoria) grounded into a fielder’s choice to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead over Southeastern Iowa.
McWhirter made some more noise later in game one when her hustle down the line forced a error by the Blackhawks’ shortstop, scoring Katie David (Fr. – Illini Bluffs) and increasing the Cougar lead to 3-1.
The Cougars weren’t done just yet, as Sam Garcia (Fr. – Washington) reached on another error committed by the shortstop from Southeastern Iowa, scoring Kayla Ford (So. – Washington), and putting ICC ahead 4-1. That was shortly followed by an RBI single for Lexy Trammell (Fr. – Limestone), scoring Garcia and making it 5-1.
A slightly confusing play that proved difficult to put into the scorebook set the final score of 6-2 in favor of ICC.
In game two, familiar names proved to be key for the Cougars offense. McKinsey Walters (So. – Geneseo) was quite possibly the biggest bat in this one, hitting a single in the second inning for her fourth hit in the last two games, and she, nor the Cougars, weren’t even done yet. Walters was walked in, making it 1-0 Cougars. That was followed be three ICC runners all scoring on an error to plate the fourth run of that inning and making it 4-0 in favor of the Cougars.
The bats cooled off for just a few innings for ICC, until they heated back up in an awfully impressive way, with both David and Walters hitting home runs in the fifth inning, with Walters’ home run making it her fifth hit in two games and a 7-1 score in favor of the Cougars.
The ICC bats were not cooled off just yet, as Megan Adams hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to finish off the Cougars’ scoring, with the score being 9-1 at that point.
However, the Blackhawks tried to make a furious comeback, scoring three runs in the bottom half of the sixth to set the final score of 9-4 in favor of ICC.
The Cougars play their final fall season game tomorrow in Charleston, Illinois, against NCAA Division-I Eastern Illinois. First pitches are scheduled for 1:00 and 3:00 pm. The Cougars are back at the CougarPlex on Sunday, October 8th, at 1:00 pm for their annual Alumni Game.
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