Prairie Star softball fails to score
UIS softball loses in a double header against University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL). During both games, UIS held up a strong battle offensively and defensively against UMSL.
During the first two innings, UIS was unable to get any players on base; however, during the third inning UIS was able to put players on base, but the runners were left stranded.
It was a quiet game with not many hits from either team. UIS and UMSL battled into extra innings. Leading into the 12th inning, UIS fell apart, making countless errors and allowing UMSL to take six runs.
Infielder Brooke Carroll said, “Our pitches really kept us in this game. But we just weren’t fully there offensively. Our coach always tells us to ‘jump in the pool, but don’t just stick your toes in and feel it out,’ meaning that we need to attack early and not let the other team hang around. However, we did not attack them early.”
Unfortunately, UIS could not come back from the six runs and ended up losing against UMSL in the first game.
“We played very well against UMSL and were in the game the whole time, we just began to fall apart at the seams toward the end, and UMSL was able to catch on and take advantage of it,” Carroll said.
Into the second game against UMSL, UIS had great potential to score runs by getting players on base, but never getting anyone home. In the third inning, UMSL scored three runs, taking the lead.
As the second game closed, UIS was unable to score any runs and lost against UMSL.
“It’s always hard to go through 12 innings and lose, some of that carried over into our second game. It was hard for the team to string together and score any runs. We ended up beating ourselves in both games,” Caroll said. “I wouldn’t say the team was any better than ours. Both teams had a solid defense throughout the games. We both put up tough fights. UMSL was able to catch a break while we were not.”
Due to the weather, UIS was not able to play against Maryville. UIS softball will play Drury on March 29.
Baseball falls to Flyers
The men’s baseball team traveled to Romeoville, Ill. Saturday to play a double header against the Flyers of Lewis University. The Prairie Stars lost the first game in extra innings with a score of 4-6 and lost game two with a final score of 3-6.
In the first game, the Stars could not get anything going as they fell three runs early on in the game. Then in the fifth inning, the Flyers added another run to their score to take a 4-0 lead over the Stars with game almost over.
Then the Prairie Stars finally gained some momentum going into the seventh inning. The inning began when junior Adam Unes was walked to first shortly followed by junior Logan Frye hitting a single right up the middle. Unes and Frye both advanced thanks to junior Adrian Brown. Then junior Nick Sanders hit an RBI single allowing the Stars to get their first run of the game.
Junior Trevor Johnson recorded a RBI double to tie the game and send it into extra innings.
In the extra innings the Stars just could not finish as they had three runners on base but could not get the big hit they needed. At the top of the eighth inning, the Flyers scored two runs to give them the win in the first game.
The second game started off just like the first as the Flyers picked up an early four-run lead. The Stars scored their first run in the third frame when junior Blake Baker hit a double down the line allowing junior Jared Massengill to advance to third, where he took advantage of an error by the third baseman and ran to home plate scoring for the Stars.
During the sixth inning, the Stars cut the Flyer’s lead to one after Frye scored on a single by junior Josh Johnson, followed by Trevor Johnson hitting a sacrifice fly to the outfield to allow Sanders to score.
The Flyers put the game away in the top of the seventh when they added two more runs to insure their lead over the Stars.
The Prairie Stars return home Wednesday night as they take on Benedictine Springfield at Lanphier Park at 6 p.m.
