LOS ANGELES – The Illinois softball split its two contests on day two at the LMU Tournament, falling to No. 2/2/3 Oklahoma, 11-1, in six innings to start the day, before earning a come-from-behind, eight-inning 5-2 victory over host Loyola Marymount on a sunny day on Saturday (March 16) at Smith Field.
"Our first game was tough to take because we expect to win every game," said head coach Tyra Perry. "We strayed from our philosophy at the plate and took too many strikes. I challenged the team to go back to what has been successful for us versus LMU. I felt like we were more "QUAB" (quality at-bats) focused, especially in the later innings and it paid off. Maddison Demers led off the seventh with a clutch hit in a gusty at-bat to keep us in the game and Carly Thomas came through in the 8th to put us on top."
The Illini move to 15-5 on the season.
No. 2 Oklahoma 11, Illinois 1 // 6 innings
The Sooners (25-2) struck first with three runs in the second inning, started off with a leadoff home run.
OU then pushed its lead to 6-0 with a three-run homer in the fourth, before the Illini broke up the shutout with a solo home run from sophomore Maddison Demers in the bottom half of the frame.
A five-run sixth inning then gave the Sooners the 11-1 win.
Senior Taylor Edwards (1-1) took the loss after allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk and struck out one in 3.0 innings of action. Junior Akilah Mouzon (3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 1.2 IP) and seniors Emily Oestreich (2 ER, 3 H, 1.1 IP) and Danielle Brochu (3 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 0.0 IP) also saw action in the game.
The Illini totaled three hits with redshirt-senior Carly Thomas and senior Kiana Sherlund each notching a single against Sooner ace Giselle Juarez, who posted 12 strikeouts on the day.
Illinois 5, Loyola Marymount 2 // 8 innings
LMU (16-11) took an early 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the opening frame, but the Illini tied things up as Demers reached on a third strike wild pitch as redshirt-senior Annie Fleming scored on the play.
After an RBI double put the Lions up at 2-1 in the fourth, the Illini rallied in the top of the seventh as freshman pinch hitter Kailee Powell reached on an error to allow freshman pinch runner Zaria Dunlap to come home for the tying run.
With the international tiebreaker rule in effect in extras, Thomas led off the eighth with a two-run long ball to put the Illini ahead, before an RBI single from Demers added an insurance run for the 5-2 victory.
Freshman Sydney Sickels (9-2) secured the win with a complete game performance, giving up just the two earned runs on nine hits and one walk, while striking out five in eight innings.
The Illini totaled eight hits in the win, with Demers leading the way with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate with a pair of RBI.
Next Up
The Illini wrap up the LMU Tournament with their second meeting against Cal Poly on Sunday (March 17) at 12:30 p.m. CT at Smith Field.
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