LEESBURG, Fla. – Illinois softball dropped the third and final game of the series against Michigan State on Friday afternoon, 5-2. Avrey Steiner went 3-for-4 with an RBI, accounting for three of the Illini's five hits on the afternoon. Kelsie Packard and Addy Jarvis both pitched for Illinois, combining for five strikeouts. The Illini are now 7-2 on the season after the loss in game three of the three-game series against the Spartans.
Michigan State scored first with a double down the left field line, pushing the Spartans in front heading into the second inning. They would score again in the second to go up 2-0, but Illinois would respond in the third, as Bella Loya reached on a fielder's choice scoring Avrey Steiner and cutting the Spartan lead in half.
Addy Jarvis came in to pitch for Kelsie Packard with one out in the bottom of the third. Packard threw 2.1 innings, giving up four hits and three runs while striking out two. Jarvis entered and went the rest of the way for the Illini, throwing 3.2 innings and allowing no earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts.
The Spartans scored again in the bottom of the third to go up 3-1. The Illini added another run in the top of the fifth as Steiner doubled to left, scoring Jaelyn Vickery who reached base getting hit by a pitch. Michigan State plated two more runs in the fourth and fifth innings to extend their lead to 5-2.
Illinois loaded the bases in the top of the seventh inning with only one out, but was unable to push any runs across as the seventh-inning rally fell short.
UP NEXT
The Illini are back on the field tomorrow, March 13 taking on Penn State in games one and two of a three-game series with the Nittany Lions.
