Softball team plays close, but goes 0 for 6 in last week’s games

April 22, 2009
By Marcus Johnson
Sports Editor

Photo by Christopher Izatt

The UIS women’s softball team played a total of three teams last week, with all of those games resulting in losses. The majority of the games were very close games, but in the end the Prairie Stars could not come out with wins.

Last Wednesday, the Prairie Stars faced off against the Spartans of Missouri Baptist in a doubleheader.  These two games proved to be heartbreakers for the Prairie Stars, losing the first game 3-0 and the second one 6-5 in nine innings. During the first game of the doubleheader, the Spartans jumped out to an early lead over the Prairie Stars scoring a run in the second inning. They added on two more runs in the third inning, which basically put the game away for them. Missouri Baptist pitcher Jessica Robinson had a terrific outing during that game, holding the Prairie Stars to only three runs, while striking out eleven batters. 

The Stars continued that non-offensive threat that they displayed the week before. They decided to bring out their bats for the second game of the day, though. During the first inning, the Stars struck first, scoring a run off a Brianne Moeller RBI single. Missouri Baptist answered right back in the bottom of the inning, scoring a run of their own. In the third inning, the Prairie Stars put their bats to work again with RBI’s by Jessica Wolff and Kristin Kruger. This put the Prairie Stars up 3-2. The teams both continued to score runs, with the Prairie Stars adding runs in the seventh inning and the Spartans adding runs in the third and the sixth. The Spartans were able to pull away with the win with the 6-5 win, after a game winning RBI single by Julie Hathaway in the bottom of the ninth.

On Thursday, the Prairie Stars traveled to Hannibal, Missouri to face the Trojans of Hannibal-LaGrange in a doubleheader. These two games were also very tight ones that the Stars couldn’t pull out. The Stars could only manage two runs during the game, and had a chance to win the game with a tying run on base, but they couldn’t pull it out. During the second game of the day, Brianne Moeller continued her dominant ways in the mound, holding the Trojans to six scoreless innings. The Trojans broke that streak in the seventh, scoring two runs in the seventh inning to win the game
On Saturday the Prairie Stars faced future GLVC Missouri S&T. The Miners of Missouri S&T exploded on the Prairie Stars, scoring a total of 19 runs in two games against the Prairie Stars, while they only managed one.

The Prairie Stars are back in action tomorrow with a doubleheader at home against Stephens College. Games will take place at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. On Sunday, they face Illinois College in a doubleheader also at home. These games start at noon and 2 p.m.