EAST PEORIA, Ill. - The Hawks extended their win streak to nine games with two more wins on the road against the Illinois Central College Cougars. Earlier this week, the Hawks were ranked 14th in the NJCAA Division II softball polls, moving up four spots from last week. With Wednesday's wins, the Hawks are now 24-7 on the year, and 11-3 in Mid-West Athletic Conference play. 

Game 1 (W, 3-1)

University of Wisconsin - Parkside commit Tijanne Ross took the mound in the first game of the afternoon's doubleheader, throwing 7.0 innings, allowing only one run on nine hits and striking out three to improve her record to 6-2 on the season. 

The Cougars would be the first to score in the game on an RBI single by center fielder Madison McCunn that scored Caitlin Pullen from second, giving ICC an early 1-0 lead through two innings of play. ICC would hold that lead until the top of the sixth inning when Maddie Mackey (Northern Illinois University commit) would give the Hawks the lead on a two-run homerun to center field. The Hawks would go on to score another insurance run in the top of seventh inning on a Grace LaFollett RBI double to put the Hawks up by two.

Game 2 (W, 9-6)

The Hawks would use two pitchers in Game 2, with University of Wisconsin - Whitewater commit Marissa Adams getting the start. Adams, a native of LeRoy, Illinois would throw 4.0 innings, allowing four runs on five hits, going on to improve her record to 6-5 on the year. Sarah Crebo would come in for the fifth inning to finish out the game, allowing two runs on four hits to get her second save of the season. 

Jasmine McCormick got the Hawks started at the plate hitting a lead-off homerun in the top of the first inning, recording her sixth homerun of the year. An inning later, McCormick would drive in another run on an RBI single that would score Grace LaFollett from third base. A batter later, Alysa Martin would drive in Molly Walter on a left field single, and an error committed by left fielder Madison Vancil on that play would see McCormick score. Abbey Walsh would bring another run across the plate on an RBI single to center field to give the Hawks a 5-0 lead after two innings of play. The Hawks would score two more in the top of the fourth on an RBI double by Alysa Martin, and an RBI single by Danielle Ladendorf. 

ICC would answer in the bottom of the fourth with two runs of their own on a two-run homerun to center field by first baseman Katie David. An inning later, center fielder Sam McKee would hit another two-run homerun for the Cougars, and Alexis West would drive in Kylee Turczyn on an RBI single to left field to cut the run differential to two after five innings of play. 

The sixth inning would see the Hawks score two more runs when Grace LaFollett reached on an error that would score Mackey and Walsh. ICC would also score in the sixth inning on an RBI double by Sam McKee, but the late inning push by the Cougars wouldn't be enough to catch up to the Hawks. 

The Hawks return home on Thursday, April 18th for a 3:00 PM conference doubleheader against John Wood Community College. You can watch the live stream of all softball games by clicking here and follow along with live stats by clicking here.