Lady Blues Split Regular Season Finale

MT. VERNON, Iowa – Julia Drake tossed a shutout and Cheyenne Anderson roped a three-run home run to pace the Illinois College softball team to a split in the regular season finale on Sunday.

The Lady Blues won the first game, 4-0, and dropped the nightcap, 9-1. IC finished the regular season with a 19-20 overall record and a 12-4 slate in conference play. The Rams moved to 16-17 and 10-6.

Game 1 (IC 4 Cornell 0)
The Lady Blues scored three times in the top of the first and never looked back, cruising to a 4-0 victory.

IC got all of the runs it would need with one swing of the bat in the first when Anderson drilled a three-run home run that also scored Calynn Gicante and Kayla Serpa. 

The Lady Blues added an insurance run in the seventh when Taylor Henry drove in Anderson with a single.

Drake was stellar in the circle again, tossing seven shutout innings, allowing only five hits and recording five strikeouts. The senior from New Athens, Ill. needs just five K's to become the school's all-time strikeout leader. The victory moved Drake to 11-8 on the season.

Anderson, Gicante, and Henry all had two hits for IC.

Game 2 (Cornell 9 IC 1)
A pair of four-run innings paced the Rams to victory in the nightcap.

IC took the lead in the top of the second inning when Serpa drove home Claudia Adam with a single but Cornell came back with four runs in its half of the inning and never trailed again. The Rams added a single tally in the third and four more in the sixth to end the game.

Henry took the loss in the circle for IC, throwing four innings, allowing five runs (four earned) with six hits and four strikeouts. Hannah Crouch finished up the game for IC, tossing the final 1 2/3 innings.

Serpa and Elysia Hand each had a pair of hits for IC in the contest.

Up Next
It's on to postseason play as the Lady Blues will travel to Lake Forest for the annual Midwest Conference Tournament. Seedings, pairings, and game times will be determined later on Sunday.