OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha softball team dropped both games of a doubleheader Saturday, falling 8-3 and 10-5 to Western Illinois at Westside Field at Westbrook.
Omaha and Western Illinois conclude their series on Sunday, May 5, with first pitch at 11 a.m. The game marks Senior Day for three Maverick seniors –
Taylor Conkling,
Savannah Fisher and
Natalie Mostek – who will be honored with pregame festivities. Links to live stats will be available on OMavs.com.
Game One: Western Illinois 8, Omaha 3 (8 innings)
Alexa Sedlak finished 1-for-3 with a solo home run to lead the Mavericks in the opener.
Lauren Lauvetz had a triple and an RBI, while
Jamie White had a double and an RBI.
Payton Abbott went 2-for-2 with a homer, two RBI and three walks to lead Western Illinois. Danielle Olson had a pair of hits and four RBI.
Reliever
Halley Jones (1-13) took the loss in the opener. Jones allowed four runs on two hits and two walks in 0.2 innings of work. Starter
Ryanne Millington allowed four runs on seven hits and five walks with two strikeouts in 7.1 innings. Western Illinois starter Emily Ira (13-6) allowed three runs on four hits and six strikeouts. Abbot struck out two over two innings.
Western Illinois jumped out to a 3-0 lead, scoring one in the third and twice in the fifth. Abbott's solo home run put WIU on top 1-0 in the top of the third, then the Fighting Leathernecks increased the lead to 3-0 on Olson's two-run single.
Omaha answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth on Sedlak's solo homer. The Mavericks added two runs in the sixth.
Sydney Schelkopf opened the inning with a double to left center. Lauvetz then hit an RBI triple followed by White's RBI double.
The Fighting Leathernecks took control in the eighth, scoring five runs on three hits and three walks. Ira retired Omaha in order in the bottom of the eighth, and Western Illinois won the first game of the series, 8-3.
Game Two: Western Illinois 10, Omaha 5
Lexi Burkhardt finished 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI to lead Omaha at the plate. White and
Emma Dargy each had two hits and a run scored. Sedlak went 1-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI, while
Emily Klosterman had an RBI.
Olson finished 1-for-3 with a home run, two walks and three RBI for the Fighting Leathernecks. Jasmine Lara and Hailey Duwa had two hits apiece.
Abby Carlin (4-8) earned the win in the circle, limiting Omaha to five runs on eight hits and three walks with three strikeouts through seven innings. Millington (2-14) was tagged with the loss, surrendering six runs (four earned) on six hits and three walks in her 2.2 inning outing. Jones allowed four runs on seven hits and six walks over the final 4.1 innings.
Western Illinois grabbed the early momentum, plating two runs on Olson's home run.
Omaha righted the ship in the home half of the inning. The Mavericks loaded the bases with no outs, Sedlak lofted a sacrifice fly to center to score Dargy. Lauvetz crossed home on an error by the WIU second baseman. Klosterman then hit a sac fly to right field to bring home White and put Omaha in front 3-2.
Western Illinois responded with two runs in both the second and third inning to surge in front 6-3.
In the bottom of the third, Burkhardt hit a two-run homer over the center field fence to make it a 6-5 game. The Mavericks then loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth with no outs, but Carlin retired the next three batters to end the threat.
WIU tacked on a pair of runs in the six and seventh to make the final 10-5.
