Romeoville, Ill. – The Maryville softball team found the road not so kind as the Saints dropped both ends of a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader to Lewis University, 9-6 and 10-8 at the Lewis Softball Field in Romoeville, Ill. Saturday afternoon.
Courtney Ferguson opened the first game of the day with a bang as she smashed her third home run of the year to give the Saints an early 1-0 lead. The Flyers battled back to tie the contest in the second inning at 1-1, but Maryville regained the lead as Ferguson drilled a triple to right field and scored on a
Nikki Taylor single to give the Saints a 2-1 advantage. Lewis responded in the home half of the third with a seven run outburst that gave the Flyers an 8-2 lead.
The Saints did not go down without a fight as Taylor hit her sixth homer of the year to cut the Lewis lead to 8-3. The Flyers gained an insurance run in the bottom of the frame to extend the lead to 9-3. Maryville again came out swinging in the seventh inning as
Kelsey Martin opened the frame with a single. Ferguson and
Ashley Marks added back-to-back singles to load the bases and Martin came across to score when Taylor drew a walk to cut the Lewis lead to 9-4.
Jaclyn Pasakarnis drove in Ferguson with a sacrifice fly to right and
Sheridon Sprague singled to center field to score Marks from third and cut the deficit to 9-6.
Taylor suffered the loss to drop her record to 8-6 on the year, going three innings and giving up eight runs on nine hits while striking out three on the day. Ferguson led the way at the plate going 4-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored with Taylor adding three hits and three runs batted in.
Ferguson again got Maryville going in the night cap as she opened the game by drawing a free pass and moved to third on a ground out and fly out. She scored on a wild pitch to give the Saints a 1-0 lead. The Flyers answered the Saints with five runs over the next two innings to take a 5-1 lead at the end of the second. Sprague brought the Saints right back into the game with a grand slam to tie the game at 5-5 in the third. Lewis re-took the lead with a run in the home half of the fourth, but the Saints again tied the game in the fifth inning as Taylor walked to open the frame and scored on a ground out to knot the game at 6-6.
The game continued to go back and forth as Lewis regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a run to put the score at 7-6. Taylor would again give the Saints the lead with her second home run of the day to score Ferguson, who walked to open the inning, as it gave Maryville an 8-7 advantage. The Flyers (18-9, 6-4 GLVC) answered in the bottom of the inning with three runs of their own to take the lead, 10-8 as they were able to hold Maryville in the seventh to earn the series sweep.
Sprague took the loss for the Saints after going 1.2 innings and giving up three runs on five hits. Taylor was 1-for-1 on the day and added a pair of RBI's while being walked three times. Sprague chipped in with a pair of hits and four runs batted in.
Maryville (14-14, 4-4 GLVC) returns to the road on Saturday, April 1, as the Saints travel to Liberty, Mo. to take on William Jewell College in a noon start.
