Feb. 7, 2014

CHICAGO - University of Illinois pitcher Brandi Needham kept the Loyola University Chicago softball team to just five hits as the Ramblers fell 11-1 (6) in the season-opening defeat. Olivia Bell led Loyola in the loss, going 1-for-2 with solid defensive play in left field.

The Fighting Illini opened up the game with back-to-back hits in the first inning before senior Brittany Gardner stemmed the tide by picking up right where she left off last season as Loyola's all-time career strikeout leader (574), striking out the next three Illinois batters. In the bottom of the first, three groundouts were all that the top of the Loyola lineup could muster.

Gardner added another strikeout to her 2014 total in the top of the second inning, again holding the Illini at bay. In the bottom of the inning, Annie Korth dropped a single into centerfield for Loyola's first hit of the game, but she went no further than first base.

In the fourth inning, Illinois was the first to get on the board when a Nicole Evans double and a Brittany Sanchez triple sent one run across the plate. The Illini followed it up with two more singles for a second insurance run, before Gardner forced two grounders and a strikeout to end the half inning.

The Ramblers exploded offensively in the bottom of the fourth, starting with a leadoff single to shortstop by Jessica Balzano. Lauren Moore followed it up with a smoking line drive into right field, and Lauren Zaworski walked to load the bases. A Tarran Shaffer single to left center would score Blazano before three groundouts halted the Loyola momentum.

Illinois continued its offensive push in the fifth, tacking on four more runs despite two more strikeouts from Gardner and a diving catch by Olivia Bell on a Jade Vecvanags fly ball that hit the top of the dome and careened back down.

Bell came right back to lead off the bottom of the fifth with a single, but Needham silenced the Loyola lineup in the rest of the frame.

Illinois sealed the deal with five more runs on three hits in the sixth inning, and Loyola could not make up the difference in the bottom of the frame. The Ramblers fell to the Illini by a score of 11-1 in six innings.

Five Ramblers contributed to Loyola's offensive effort, with Balzano, Moore, Shaffer, Korth, and Bell each finishing with one hit a piece.

Gardner finished with 13 hits, 9 runs and 8 strikeouts in 5.1 innings pitched.

Loyola is back in action tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. against Western Illinois inside The Dome at Rosemont in Rosemont, Ill.