Box Score MATTOON, Ill. – No. 4 seeded Parkland softball dropped a tightly-contested Region 24 quarterfinal game to No. 1 seed Illinois Central on Friday evening, 3-2.
Tori Witruk threw her second complete game of the day and hit her second home run of the day, but the Cougars scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to break a 2-2 tie.
Now 1-1 in the 2019 NJCAA DII Region 24 Tournament, the Cobras will face Heartland on Saturday at 2 p.m. central time in the consolation bracket. Owning a 3-1 advantage against Heartland in the regular season, the winner will play the winner of the other consolation game at 3:30 p.m. central time.
After tossing seven innings and hitting a three-run, walk-off homer to defeat Danville Area in the tournament's opening game earlier today, the sophomore pitcher returned to the circle to throw six more innings and hit a second home run. In the circle, Witruk allowed just two earned runs on six hits while striking out a pair. At the plate, Witruk stayed hot with her second home run of the day, a solo shot in the bottom of the third inning.
In total, Witruk pitched 13 innings on the day, while going 3-for-6 at the plate with two home runs and four runs batted in.
After the Cougars grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first, Witruk's home run in the bottom of the third tied the score. Later in the inning,
Kate Beckemeyer doubled with two outs and came around to score on a
Bri Poehler single and error by the Illinois Central center fielder.
Witruk held Illinois Central off the scoreboard in the third, but a Cobra error allowed Illinois Central to tie the game in the fourth. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the sixth when the Cougars used an infield hit and double with two outs to push across the go-ahead run.
Looking to replicate their seventh-inning magic from earlier in the day,
Kirbie Mendenhall singled and
Lauren Wendling reached on a hit-by-pitch. With both the tying and go-ahead runs on base, the Cobras were unable to tie the game, as Illinois Central induced a flyout to escape the jam.
