CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Parkland softball dropped both games of a Thursday doubleheader against No. 17 Illinois Central, 14-1 and 10-2. With the setback, Parkland's record moves to 19-13 on the season.
Cobra shortstop
Kate Beckemeyer and catcher
Bri Poehler each went deep on Thursday to lead the Parkland offense. Beckemeyer hit a lead-off homer in game one, marking her first home run of the season. Poehler added her fifth long ball of 2019 in game two with a solo shot to start the bottom of the fourth.
Up next, the Cobras will play a pair of M-WAC doubleheaders this weekend, visiting Danville Area at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, and then hosting Lincoln Land on Sunday, April 14, at 1 p.m.
Game 1: Parkland 1, No. 17 Illinois Central 14
Illinois Central scored six times in the first inning and held Parkland to two hits in five innings.
Morgan Parrish was the pitcher of record for the Cobras, while
Kirbie Mendenhall tossed 4.2 innings of relief.
Leading off the bottom of the first with a home run,
Kate Beckemeyer launched a pitch off the scoreboard in right field.
Summer Johnson recorded the other Cobra hit, a lead-off single to start the fifth inning, while
Bella Coffey reached on an error in the second inning.
Game 2: Parkland 2, No. 17 Illinois Central 10
The Cobras battled back to within a run, 3-2, in the bottom of the fifth, but were unable to complete the comeback in a 10-2 loss.
Tori Witruk (7-2) tossed a complete game and recorded a hit, but took her second loss of the season.
Falling behind 3-0 on single tallies in the first three innings, the Cobras responded with single runs in the fourth and fifth to draw within a run. In the fourth, Poehler hit her fifth home run of the year to leadoff the inning. A Skundberg single and Johnson hit-by-pitch put the tying runs on base, but the Cougars induced a double play to escape the threat.
A one-out walk by
Bre Riemenschneider set the offense in motion in the fifth. After moving to second on a ground out, Beckemeyer slapped a single to left field to bring home Riemenschneider.
The deficit cut to 3-2, Illinois Central bounced back with three runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh.
