Boxscore (PDF)

CHICAGO (April 8, 2018) 
 
In Short
Illinois State (14-23, 5-5 MVC) scored six runs in the fifth inning to break up a close game and coast to an 8-0 victory over host Loyola University Chicago (16-16, 3-7 MVC) this afternoon at Loyola Softball Park in a Missouri Valley Conference contest. The second game of the scheduled doubleheader was canceled due to frigid temperatures.
 
How It Happened
Illinois State broke through against Loyola starter Keenan Dolezal, who had worked her way out of two early jams, in the third inning, scoring runs on a Riley Strandgard sacrifice fly and a Caitlyn Daly RBI single, to seize a 2-0 lead.
 
The game stayed that way until the top of the fifth, when the Redbirds pulled away, scoring six runs on six hits, with the big blow coming in the form of a two-run single by Daly. 
 
Loyola's bats couldn't generate much offense against ISU starter Sarah Finck, tallying just two hits, a second-inning single by Jordyn Cordell and a pinch-hit double by Sophia Swain in the fifth.
 
A Look At The Numbers

• Shannon McGee had her streak of consecutive games reaching base safely snapped at 26.
• Swain's pinch-hit double pushed her season average to .500 (4-for-8).
• Finck struck out five and allowed only two hits to earn her seventh win of the year for Illinois State, which got three hits from Alex Caliva.

 
Up Next
The Ramblers play a doubleheader at Notre Dame on Wednesday, April 11.