ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Lakeland College softball team hammered out 14 hits in five innings of work in a 9-1 rout of Dominican (Ill.) University in the first game of the teams' Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon.
The Muskies kept hitting in the second game, but the Stars warmed up too and held on for a 10-7 win to gain a split of the doubleheader. Lakeland remains at the .500 mark for the season at 9-9 overall and is now 1-3 in NACC play.
Angela Tribuzio (
So.-Huntley, Ill.) and
Jessica Beaudry (
So.-Gladstone, Mich.) both had three hits each in the opener and Tribuzio drove in three runs, including a two-run home run as part of a four-run third inning when the Muskies broke the game open to take a 5-0 lead. Lakeland also added a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth, including a two-run single by
Jocelyn Yeager (
Jr.-Elm Grove, Wis.) plus a run-scoring double by
Mikayla Hilton (
Jr.-Port Washington, Wis.) that put the team in position to win on account of the eight-run rule after five innings.
Taylor Bush (
Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) took the torch from there, retiring all three Stars batters to earn her fifth win of the season, allowing four hits and a run in five innings with two strikeouts.
Lakeland fell behind big early in the second game as Dominican (13-7 overall, 3-1 NACC) scored six times in the second inning for a 7-0 lead. The Muskies eventually went behind by eight runs at 10-2 but kept fighting and by the sixth inning had sliced the deficit to three runs.
Rosa Gonzalez (
So.-Elwood, Ill.) doubled in a run in the fifth inning to score
Rylee Garand (
Fr.-Punta Gorda, Fla.), and also added a two-run single in the sixth, part of a five-hit day.
Meghan Etten (
Fr.-Elkhorn, Wis.) also added a pinch-hit two-run homer in the sixth, her first collegiate home run.
Beaudry and
Molly Talaska (
Jr.-Oswego, Ill.) both added two hits each and Hilton also contributed a two-run single to get the Muskies on the board in the third. Bush also started the second game and took the loss, throwing 1 2/3 innings and allowing seven runs.
Lakeland stays in the Chicago area tomorrow to face Concordia University Chicago for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. in River Forest, Ill., in games being made up after originally being scheduled for Saturday.