JANESVILLE, Wis. - After losing their first four games of the Midwest Conference Classic, the Red Hawks salvaged the weekend with a split of their two games on Sunday. The day began with a 5-4 victory in eight innings against Illinois College, before narrowly losing to Monmouth College, 2-1.
The Red Hawks (5-20, 2-8 MWC) started the day off red hot, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first, scoring on a ground out, a sacrifice fly by
Ashley Gnacinski, and an RBI double from
Meg Krautsch.
Illinois College (9-14, 3-6 MWC) tied things up in the fifth inning, scoring two runs on a double, and another on a Ripon error.
Ripon then took the lead again in the sixth when
Stephanie Cartwright tripled down the right field line, scoring
Tene Robinson with the go-ahead run. That lead lasted until the top of the seventh, when Illinois College homered to right field, tying the game and sending it to extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, Illinois College left two runners on base, giving Ripon an opportunity in the bottom of the inning that they would take full advantage of. With one out and runners on second and third,
Jessica Kobelt lifted the ball to center field for the second out. Ashley Parkkonen broke from third base, but retreated, and after the throw came into the catcher, Parkkonen scored when the catcher threw into the outfield while trying to pick her off third base, sending Ripon into a victory celebration.
Ripon finished with 11 hits, with Cartwright and Desiree Velazquez recording three apiece. Parkkonen also tallied two base knocks. Gnacinski (5-8) picked up the win, allowing three earned runs on six hits, while striking out five and pitching all eight innings.
In the second game of the day, it was Ripon that fell behind early, as Monmouth scored on a bunt single in the bottom of the first. The Fighting Scots added another run in the fourth on a sac fly to take a 2-0 advantage.
Ripon's lone run came in the top of the seventh when Robinson scored on an error. The Red Hawks loaded the bases with one out, but couldn't get the tying run across the plate.
The Red Hawks finished the game with five hits, while Monmouth recorded six.Celine Diedrick (0-1) took the tough luck loss, allowing two earned runs and striking out three in six innings of work.
Ripon will be in action again on Thursday when they'll battle Lawrence in a doubleheader that will begin at 3 p.m. in Ripon. LiveStats will be available for both games at,http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.
