BATON ROUGE, La. – The Fighting Illini softball team opened the 2022 season in dominating fashion, routing the Central Arkansas Bears 9-0 in game one of the LSU Tiger Classic Friday afternoon. Illinois' nine runs are the most in a season opener since the 2018 team also scored nine in their 9-1 victory over Providence.
The Illini were led by three RBI's from freshman Stevie Meade, two from graduate student Bella Loya, and one a piece from Paige Berkmeyer, Kelly Ryono, Avrey Steiner, and Kailee Powell.
It's always nice to start the season off with a win. I thought we played solid softball in spite of being a little bit anxious" head coach Tyra Perry said. "We were able to use a lot of people and I always like it when we are able to go deep into our bench."
Senior Sydney Sickels (5 IP, 0 R, 5 K) and junior Morgan Scivally (2 IP, 0 R) threw a combined-shutout for the Illini, dominating the circle and pitching the first opening day shutout since the 2010 season opener.
The Illini scoring got started early, as graduate student Bella Loya knocked in senior Avrey Steiner and Meade also scored on the throw to second.
After a quiet second and third inning, the Illini offense heated up for five runs in the fourth inning. Started off by a sac fly from freshman Paige Berkmeyer, sophomore Megan Ward walked to load the bases with two outs. Steiner then worked a walk to tally another run before Meade hit a bases-clearing double to extend the Illini lead to 7-0.
The Illini added two more in the top of the seventh after back-to-back doubles from Ryono and Powell, while Scivally entered the game in the sixth and allowed just two hits over her two innings pitched.
"Morgan Scivally did a great job coming in for Sickels to finish the game. Bella Loya was an RBI machine" head coach Tyra Perry said.
UP NEXT
Illinois is back on the diamond tonight, facing off against the #14/15 LSU Tigers. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT and will be streamed live on SEC/ESPN Network+.
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