April 27, 2010

Box Score

CHICAGO - Hilary Payne tossed six shutout innings and Loyola University Chicago (18-19) capitalized on five Northern Illinois (20-28) errors en route to a 6-0 victory in game two of a doubleheader at Loyola Softball Park this evening. The Ramblers have now prevailed in eight of their last 10 home games and posted their first doubleheader sweep since April 10 versus Youngstown State.

In the top of the second inning, pinch hitter Kristen Medrud drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run as Loyola staked claim to a 1-0 lead and in essence, got all the runs it would need on the day. The Ramblers took full advantage of Northern Illinois' poor fielding in the third inning, scoring a pair of runs as the Huskies committed three miscues in that frame alone.

Ellen Kresl, who had led off the third inning by reaching on an error by NIU's shortstop, later would score on another Huskie miscue before Jacqueline Grim perfectly executed a squeeze play to put Loyola on top, 3-0.

The Ramblers added two more runs in the fourth courtesy of RBI singles from Brooke Andresen and Angie Funston, then added one more run for good measure in the fifth on Kresl's run-scoring infield hit.

Payne was impressive yet again in mid-week work as she allowed only two hits and struck out three en route to her fifth win of the season. Amy Solava came on and tossed a perfect inning of relief to complement Payne's solid performance.

Offensively, the Ramblers banged out nine hits as Kresl, Bridget Lally and Stevie Bradich posted two hits apiece. Freshman sensation Brooke Andresen had her beat go on as her fourth-inning single stretched her consecutive-game hitting streak to a remarkable 23 contests.

Loyola is back in action Thursday, April 29, when it hosts a doubleheader against UIC, beginning at 4 p.m.