CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Parkland softball powered their way to a doubleheader sweep of visiting Spoon River (14-8, 8-4) on Wednesday afternoon, homering 10 times, including eight in game one. First baseman Bella Coffey led the team with three home runs, while Emma Newton, Summer Johnson and Camryn Skundberg each homered twice. Pitchers Tori Witruk (3-1) and Morgan Parrish (5-0) picked up the two victories with a combined four earned runs over 10.2 innings, moving Parkland's record to 12-6.

More than doubling their season home run total, the Cobras played long ball throughout the afternoon with 14 of 22 runs coming on homers. In addition to multi-homer days from Coffey, Newton, Johnson and Skundberg, Bri Poehler belted her third bomb of the season. Overall, the Cobras hit .423 on the day behind 27 combined hits. Newton led the team with six RBI between the two games.

In the circle, sophomore Tori Witruk improved to 3-1 by allowing just one run over four innings of relief and striking out three. Morgan Parrish followed in game two to pick up her fifth victory behind 6.2 innings of work with six strikeouts, while Witruk came in to record the final out of the game.

Winners of seven of their last eight, the Cobras will play a pair of road doubleheaders, visiting Rock Valley tomorrow, March 28, at 3 p.m. and John Wood on Saturday, March 30, for a 1 p.m. first pitch. Parkland returns home on Sunday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader versus Rend Lake.

Game 1: Parkland 14, Spoon River 8

The Cobras won a slugfest in game one, out-homering the Snappers 8-4 and outscoring them 14-8. Emma Newton, Camryn Skundberg and Summer Johnson each went yard twice and Tori Witruk held the visitors to one run over four innings of relief to pick up the win.

Doubling their season home-run total in one game, the Cobras scored in every inning and homered in every frame except the second to score 12 of 14 runs via the long ball. Joining Newton, Skundberg and Johnson in the home run parade was Bella Coffey and Bri Poehler.

Six Cobras contributed multiple hits in route to an 18-hit attack. Leading the attack was a four-hit day from third baseman Camryn Skundberg, singling twice to go along with her two-home run day.

Right fielder Emma Newton and second baseman Summer Johnson protected Skundberg in the order with a trio of hits out of the clean-up spot and six-hole, respectively. Newton's pair of homers marked her second multi-home run game of the season, and fifth and sixth overall, while Johnson recorded her first. Both two-run shots, Johnson's four-RBI performance led the team.

Poehler and Witruk rounded out the offensive onslaught with two-hit games. Poehler hit her third bomb of the season to go along with a double, while Witruk doubled and singled while driving in a run.

Coming in with a 7-7 tie to start the fourth, Witruk (3-1) silenced the Snappers over the final four innings, allowing just two baserunners on a walk and a solo home run while striking out three. The sophomore's one-run outing lowers her ERA to 3.33 on the season.

A back-and-forth battle through the early innings, Parkland fell behind 6-2 after a five-run second inning by Spoon River erased back-to-back jacks from Skundberg and Newton on back-to-back pitches in the first inning. After Witruk and Quattro RBI hits in the second inning, back-to-back bombs from Newton, a two-run shot, and Coffey leveled the score, 7-7.
After a scoreless fourth from Witruk, Parkland busted the game open with a five-run fourth inning. After a Poehler one-out double, Skundberg hit her second homer of the day, and then three batters later Johnson drove in three more with her second home run of the season.

Solo shots in the fifth and sixth from Poehler and Johnson added single tallies, while Witruk allowed just a solo home run in the seventh, her only hit allowed, in her four innings of work to close out the win.

Game 2: Parkland 8, Spoon River 2

Parkland finished off the doubleheader sweep with a five-run second inning, two home runs from Bella Coffey and three earned runs over 6.2 innings from starter Morgan Parrish.

Improving to a team-leading five wins, Parrish tossed a complete game for the second time this season, allowing just one earned run while striking out six. Including today's performance, Parrish has allowed just four earned runs over her last four starts and 24.2 innings for a 1.12 ERA over that span.

Spoon River again scored first to start game two, but the Cobras took control with a five-run second inning. Continuing the string of homers from game one, Coffey led off with her second big fly of the day to lead-off the inning and tie the score. Three straight singles from Johnson, Mendenhall and Ruppert kept the line moving with Johnson scoring on an error by the catcher. An error by the second baseman allowed Mendenhall and Ruppert to touch the plate, and then Wendling scored the final run of the inning on an Emma Newton sacrifice fly.

After every Cobras came to the plate in the second inning, Coffey led-off the third with her second home run in as many at-bats and third on the day. Newton finished off the scoring by doubling home a pair of runs in the bottom half of the sixth to push the lead to its largest of the game, 8-2.

Spoon River brought the tying run to the plate, but Witruk relieved Parrish and induced a bases-loaded fly out to left field to save the victory.