EUREKA, Ill. – As the Mount Mary University softball team continues their spring trip, they lost a pair of games to host Eureka College today. The Red Devils took game one 5-0 and game two 7-4 giving Eureka a record of 12-2 and making the Blue Angels 0-6.
Despite the five run margin, the Blue Angels matched up well against one of the St Louis Athletic Intercollegiate Conference top teams. The big difference in the score would be the seven fielding errors for the Blue Angels.
With three errors in the first inning and two hits, the Red Devils took a 2-0 lead with the only earned run of the game scoring on starter Nikki Festge (Sr./Menomonee Falls, Wis.). Festge ended her performance with 6.0 innings, giving up five hits, with no walks and two strikeouts.
SLIAC's pitching leader Kali George of Eureka added to her leading ERA giving up no runs off of three hits while striking out seven.
Offensively, Jess Runge (Jr./Freedom, Wis.) went 1-of-3 from the plate along with Payton Hintz (So./Almond, Wis.). Rookie Katy Groth (Fr./Racine, Wis.) went 1-of-2 from the plate giving her a team leading .400 batting average on the year.
The second game saw more of the Blue Angels offense come alive while cutting down on the errors. However, the Red Devils led off the bottom of the first inning with four runs off of four hits.
MMU led off the second inning with a single by Peyton Davis (Fr./Tracy, Calif.). After two quick outs, the Blue Angels loaded the bases and Jess Runge brought home Davis for their first run of the day.
The Blue Angels added another run in the third inning when Payton Hintz moved into scoring position after a single and her first stolen base of the year. Peyton Davis laced a shot to left center to make the score 4-2.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Red Devils added two more runs. The Blue Angels then added two more runs in the following frame. Ashely Contreras (So./College Station, Texas) brought home the first run of the inning with a double to right center, and was subsequently brought home by Hintz making it 6-4 Eureka.
After adding an unearned run in the sixth, the Red Devils took the 7-4 score to the final out.
Contreras finished with 6.0 innings pitched, giving up 11 hits, six earned runs, walking two and striking out five.
The Blue Angels trip continues Wed. Mar. 30 against Knox College. The Prairie Fire are still searching for their first victory of the season as MMU roles into Galesburg, Ill. Check out mtmaryathletics.com for game scores and updates.
