Springfield, Ill. – Despite a big day at the plate by senior Kyleigh Payne (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara), the Purdue Northwest softball team dropped a pair of one-run games to Quincy University (Ill.) Sunday afternoon at the Land of Lincoln Softball Complex in Springfield, Ill. The Pride lost the first game by a score of 4-3 and then fell in the second game, 9-8. Payne combined to go 4-for-7 from the plate with a double, two triples, three runs scored and two RBI.
The Hawks hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the bottom of the second inning and scored a third run later in the frame off a fielding error to go up, 3-0. A RBI single by senior Samme Miller (North Salem, Ind./Tri-West) in the top of the third gave PNW its first run of the game. The Pride scored again in the top of the fifth to draw within a run, 3-2. QU added a run in the bottom of the fifth to push its lead to 4-2. Junior Taylor Kotzo (Munster, Ind./Munster) hit a RBI double in the top of the sixth to pull Purdue Northwest within a run again, but PNW left the potential game-tying run stranded at second base in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Senior Holly Pagan (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) took the loss (0-1) as the game one starter for the Pride throwing five innings and allowing six hits, four runs (all earned) and a walk with no strikeouts. Junior Mia Stevens (Wheatfield, Ind./Kankakee Valley) threw the final inning of game one for PNW giving up no hits, runs or walks.
Miller got Purdue Northwest off to a strong start with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning and a RBI single in the third inning to give her team a 2-0 lead. Quincy tied the game hitting a RBI double in both the fourth and fifth innings to make the score, 2-2. In the bottom of the fifth, RBI singles by sophomore Taylor Mendenhall (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) and junior Olivia Sardella (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central) put PNW back in front, 4-2.
However, the Hawks answered back with five runs in the top of the sixth off of five hits and an error to go ahead, 7-4. A two-run triple by Payne and a RBI single by Mendenhall highlighted a four-run bottom of the sixth that put PNW back in front, 8-7; but QU scored a pair in the top of the seventh to take the lead for good. Freshman Courtney Blackwell (Whiting, Ind./Whiting) suffered the loss (3-2) as the game two starter for the Pride. She threw seven innings and allowed 13 hits, eight runs (three earned) and a walk with one strikeout.
Purdue Northwest (5-4 overall) continues its season next week at the PFX Spring Games in Clermont, Fla. The Pride play their first two games of the Spring Break trip on Monday, March 12, with a 2 p.m. CT game against Saint Thomas Aquinas College (N.Y.) and a 4:30 p.m. CT against University of Indianapolis.
