Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4
    With games on March 22nd, 28th, and 29th, the Hawks had one conference game day after another, facing the Lincoln Land Loggers and the Danville Area Jaguars at the Corn Crib, and Heartland headed to Champaign to take on the Parkland Cobras. Through the week, the Hawks were able to collect 28 hits and 26 runs. On the mound, our pitching staff

    To start off the six-game week, the Hawks soar past the Lincoln Land Loggers with a wild 10-run second inning to secure the win. The back-and-forth score shift made for an action-packed seven innings. Sophia Beckett ignited a spark for the offense with a double to score a run, making the score 3-5 in the bottom of the 2nd. On the next play, Heartland's Sienna Aragones bunts to score Beckett, improving the score 4-5. With bases loaded, Keearrah Brown gets a hit to score one run, making it even 5-5 through two. With a few more hits and runs, the score increased to 7-4 and continued to climb as Beckett added to the chaos with Heartland's first grand slam of the season. The Loggers were able to do some damage to decrease the Hawks' lead, making the score 8-12 through three innings. The next few innings were relatively quiet with no runs scored across either team. Despite the Loggers scoring three runs in the seventh, it wasn't enough to put the Hawks ahead as the defense secured three outs and the win 12-11.
    Brown stayed on the mound for the entirety of game one, facing 40 batters with one walk and one strikeout. The defense continued to be consistent and worked through the lineup, with multiple players having two hits, finishing with a team total of 11. Kendall Lowery and Shelby Oakley showed patience at the plate with two walks on their team's seven total walks through 26 at-bats.

    Heartland turned right around to play the second game of the day with another high-scoring seven innings. Catcher Jenna Adkins led things at the plate for the Hawks with four hits through four at-bats with seven RBIs on a triple, double, and two singles. Showing major patience at the plate with three walks was first basemen, Oakley, each resulting in a run scored. Araceli Condie-Espinosa was subbed in with the score at 10-11 in the bottom of the sixth. The third basemen came up huge with a two-run home run to put Heartland ahead. Going into the seventh, the Hawks were unable to keep the lead as the Loggers tied it back up at 12. The top of the order was due up, and after an out, Beckett was able to single to left field, followed by a walk from Oakley to put the winning run in scoring position. One final walk put the game in Nataliha Oleniczak's hands. The freshman was able to find a gap with a hard groundball to score Beckett, making this a 13-12 walk-off win.

    After the wins, Heartland Softball took the rest of the week off before taking on two more conference opponents over the weekend.

    Parkland College hosted the Hawks for a doubleheader as they dropped both games to the Cobras. Games one and two featured a strong offensive performance for the Cobras, as they scored 14 and 10 runs, respectively. Heartland was able to get on base for the first matchup with the middle infielders, Caitlyn Gillette and Oleniczak, accumulating the only hits for the Hawks. Beckett stayed patient through one AB with a walk. The lone baserunners for the Hawks in game two were Ellie Ward with a hit, while Condie-Espinosa and Lowery collected a free base each. The pitching staff worked hard to keep the Parkland bats quiet and had some success from Tayla Eaves, who struck out five batters and allowed only five earned runs.

    Rounding out the last few weeks was a game day at the Corn Crib against the Danville Area Community College Jaguars. Both games were a close finish to the end with strong performances at the plate, on the mound, and in the field.

    Although the Jaguars bats were making solid contact, the Hawks found a way to fight back through the eight-inning game. Finding the bases was a few batters from the lineup as they collected six hits, showing strong strike zone awareness, with seven walks. Offensively, Beckett was about to add two runs on one hit in the first inning, which put the Hawks ahead. After a five-run lead change, Heartland and Danville found themselves tied at six through seven innings, which led to the Jaguars coming out on top. On the mound, the joint effort of Eaves and Oliva Kobel only allowed six earned runs and two strikeouts through 42 batters. Ultimately, Heartland fell 6-9 to Danville, but not without a valiant effort from the offense or defense.
    In game two, the Hawks tried to work back to get ahead of the Jaguars, but the bats were relatively quiet from both sides. It wasn't the sixth inning that Heartland was able to get on the board after Danville added three runs after a few singles on their side of the plate. Beckett found solid contact to put up a two-run home run over the left fielder to improve the score 2-3 with the Jaguars still on top. Brown threw the entirety of the second game, facing 31 batters. The defense backed up the pitcher with three runs on 11 hits with no errors committed. The right-handed hurler was able to collect a single strikeout and left the field clear of any free bases. In the end, the final came out to be 2-3 in favor of the Jaguars, but the Hawks are ready to take on their next opponent.

    Heartland Softball prepares to take on the Illinois Community College Cougars on March 31^st.