Regents and Warriors Split; Walker Ties School Record
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Posted by: Regents Sports Information
ROCKFORD, Ill. – The softball team took to the diamond on Tuesday afternoon looking to break a three game losing streak against the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors. Despite losing a pair of very close games to the Warriors last season, Rockford still boasts an all-time record of 15-8 against them and was looking to improve upon that at home at the Smith Athletic Field.
The Regents got off to a good start against the Warriors in game one. Senior Katy Atkerson (Serena, Ill./Serena) was the catalyst for Rockford when she led of the second inning with a single into center field. After a walk and a ground out advanced the runners to second and third with only one out, left fielder Jessica Bjerning (Wauconda, Ill./Mundelein) would drive in both runners with a single down the left field line to give Rockford a 2-0 lead. Freshman pitcher Sarah Moritz (Heyworth, Ill./Heyworth) cruised through the first 3 innings scattering 3 hits and keeping the Warriors off the scoreboard. Wisconsin Lutheran however was able to get a run in top in the 4th to cut the Rockford lead down to just a single run. An inning later, the Regents would couple some timely hitting along with taking advantage of its opponent’s mistakes to build upon their lead. After a one out walk, junior second baseman Jossilyn Jones (Rockford, Ill./Guilford) smashed a double down the left field line to put runners on second and third. The Regents would then take advantage of a Warrior error to make it a 3-1 ballgame and put runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs. Junior Nicole Lawler (Pearl City, Ill./Pearl City) would see her first action of the season as a pinch hitter and single into left field scoring Jones. Rockford would score its final run of the inning on an Alexis Ford (Cortland, Ill./DeKalb) single. Wisconsin Lutheran would mount a small rally in the 7th inning scoring 1 run but it would not be enough as Rockford would capture game one by a score of 5-2.
After a hard fought win in game one, the Regents would struggle in game two and fall 13-3. Maranda Walker (Rockford, Ill./Boylan) had a career game and was a bright spot in the second game for the Regents. Walker went 4-4 scoring all three runs Rockford. In addition, the freshman tied the school record with 2 triples in one game.
Freshman pitcher Sarah Moritz continues to impress on the mound for Rockford this season. Moritz pitched 5 innings giving up just one run to pick up her 3rd collegiate win. Senior Eryn Dougherty (Ottawa, Ill./Marquette) threw the final two innings of the game to seal the win.
It was a group effort at the plate for Regents in their victory. Jessica Bjerning went 2-3 including a clutch 2-out, 2-run single into left field. Nicole Lawler had the other RBI in the game with her pinch-hit single into left field. Five other Regents would each record one hit in the game and each of the five runs was scored by a different player.
The softball team will return to the diamond on Saturday, April 7th at Dominican University. The first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
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