ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Hawks would travel north to Rockford, Illinois to play two on the road against the Rock Valley College Golden Eagles, who are ranked #1 in the NJCAA Division III softball rankings. After splitting the series at home on March 21st, the Hawks' split on the road would see the Hawks take two of the four games in the season series.
Game 1 (W, 3-2)
Tijanne Ross (University of Wisconsin - Parkside commit) would improve her record to 9-2 on the year, pitching a complete 7.0 innings, allowing only two runs on nine hits, striking out four of the 31 batters she faced.Â
Leadoff batter
Jasmine McCormick put the Hawks on the board with the very first at-bat of the game, scoring on an error by Rock Valley center fielder Mackenzie Lawrence. The bottom of the same inning saw Rock Valley take the lead, scoring their only two runs of the game on an error by Heartland's
Grace LaFollett and another run on an RBI single hit by Paige Webster. In the third inning,
Jasmine McCormick would hit her eighth homerun of the year, tying Northern Illinois University commit Maddie Mackie for most homeruns hit this season. An RBI single in the top of the seventh inning by Laura Phililps would bring the game-winning run across the plate to bring the final score to 3-2.Â
Game 2 (L, 0-8)
After a late game-winning RBI single in Game 1, the Hawks were unable to take the second game of the afternoon from the Golden Eagles. Rock Valley's Courtney Fernette scored Trinity Fry in the bottom of the first inning on a sacrifice fly to right field, giving the Golden Eagles an early 1-0 lead. Four more runs would score in the second inning on an RBI single from Alleigh Burau and an RBI triple hit by Trinity Fry would give Rock Valley a 5-0 lead on the Hawks. An RBI double in the bottom of the fourth inning and an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth would bring the final score to 8-0 after five innings to end the game on an eight-run rule.Â
The Hawks will finish the remainder of the 2019 season on the road, and will face Madison College, April 27th at 1:00 PM in Madison, Wisconsin.Â
