Sangamon Sun

The Illinois College softball team concluded its annual Florida trip by splitting two games on Friday. The Lady Blues defeated Regis 6-1 but later fell to North Central 8-2, ending their Florida journey with a 4-5 record and moving to a season record of 4-9.

In the first game against Regis, Illinois College never trailed. Kayla Serpa scored on an error in the first inning, followed by Lauren Brown scoring in the second due to another error. Regis managed an unearned run in the third inning, but Illinois College responded with four runs. Serpa stole home for one run, Cheyenne Anderson scored on a wild pitch, and Brown hit a bases-clearing triple that brought Kendall Cole and Calynn Gicante home.

Serpa and Brown each contributed two hits for Illinois College. Pitcher Hannah Crouch delivered a strong performance, allowing no earned runs over five hits and striking out nine batters for her second win of the season.

The second game featured senior pitcher Julia Drake achieving a milestone by recording seven strikeouts in three innings, raising her career total to 340 and ranking her second all-time in school history for strikeouts. However, North Central broke open the scoreless game with three runs in the fourth inning and added another run in the fifth.

Illinois College narrowed the gap in the sixth inning when Gicante doubled to score pinch runner Lucy Snow. Elysia Hand then doubled to bring Gicante home, making it 4-2. Nevertheless, North Central extended their lead with four more runs in their half of the sixth inning.

Gicante took the loss as pitcher but led Illinois College's offense with two hits.

Looking ahead, Illinois College will play again at Fontbonne for a doubleheader scheduled next Saturday at ABC Ballpark starting at 1:00 p.m.