Sangamon Sun

Jordan Closs of the Illinois College softball team pitched a perfect game, and teammates Taylor Henry and Avery Fritz followed with a combined one-hitter against Monmouth in a Midwest Conference doubleheader sweep on Friday. The Lady Blues claimed victory with game scores of 13-0 and 2-0.

Illinois College's overall record improved to 19-15, including an 8-2 conference record, while Monmouth fell to 4-26 and remains winless in conference play with an 0-8 record.

In the first game, Closs stood out on the mound with 14 strikeouts during her perfect game. The Lady Blues were able to provide sufficient run support beginning with a score sparked by Delaney Melton in the second inning, resulting from a fielding error by Monmouth. The runs continued with RBI singles from Kayla Serpa and Kendall Cole in the third. Additional runs were added by a sacrifice fly from Raegan Rezba in the fourth, followed by a dominant seventh inning highlighted by Ezzy Mauermann's grand slam as well as RBIs from Serpa, Henry, and Elysia Hand.

The second matchup saw Henry concede only a leadoff single before shutting out Monmouth over 6 1/3 innings, concluding her outing with one strikeout and three walks. Fritz closed the game, striking out one of the two batters she faced in her 2/3 inning of work.

The Lady Blues secured the win in the seventh inning when Elysia Hand hit a solo home run, and Tabitha Olsen contributed with an RBI single.

Looking ahead, the team will continue their conference schedule with a doubleheader at Cornell. The matches were relocated from Jacksonville to Mt. Vernon due to expected inclement weather in Central Illinois on Saturday.