For Immediate Release

eureka, illinois

March 24, 2008

Segal's gem leads EC to 4th straight home opening win

Boxscores: Game 1 | Game 2

EUREKA — Eureka College righthander Abby Segal (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) tossed a two-hit shut out in game one of a non-conference doubleheader split between the Red Devils and MacMurray College Thursday.  Eureka won the home opening game 3-0, but fell in the nightcap 3-1.

MacMurray's (4-5) best chance to get on the board against Segal came in the very first inning as Betsy Heise walked and eventually advanced to third with one out.  But Segal induced back-to-back pop outs to get out of trouble and breezed through the rest of the game without much trouble.

Segal nearly did much more than sail through the Highlanders' lineup, though.  She got within four outs of a no-hitter before Lee Miller blooped a single into shallow right center breaking up the no-hit bid with two outs in the sixth.

The Red Devils (2-6) got the only run they would need in the bottom of the first as Cathy Kalnicky (Bolingbrook, Ill./Plainfield) drove home Molly Wolber (Rock Falls, Ill./HS) with a triple making the score 1-0.

Eureka added two insurance tallies in the fourth stanza with back-to-back walks, a sacrifice and a two-out, two-run double hit by Nicole Ropp (Minonk, Ill./Fieldcrest) between the first baseman and the bag.

The Red Devils played errorless ball in the opener, and out-hit MacMurray 7-2.  The win marks the fourth consecutive year EC has won its first home softball game of a season.

Game two got off to a rough start for the Red Devils.  MacMurray plated two unearned runs in the top of the first on a throwing error and two-out hit.

Making matters worse was that the EC bats cooled off faster than the temperature.  The first 13 Eureka batters were retired in order, and it was not until Natalie Lardi's (S. Wilmington, Ill./Gardner-S. Wilmington) single in the fifth inning that MacMurray starter Lee Miller's bid for a perfect game was halted.

Kelsey Brandt (Morton, Ill./HS) surrendered 12 hits (all singles) to MacMurray over seven innings pitched, but saved her best work for several dicey situations.  The worst of which came in the fifth inning when the Highlanders recorded three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs.  Brandt still was able to get out of the jam with nary a run scored after forcing three consecutive ground ball outs.

MacMurray added a run in the sixth to make the score 3-0, but the Red Devils showed they still had some fight in them when they made a game of it in the seventh.  Kalnicky and Lardi recorded a single and double respectively with one out to get the rally started.  Lardi's hit was the only one for extra bases out of 16 hits in the game.  Jill Doty (Metamora, Ill./HS) had good execution, but poor placement on a line drive to center that was hauled in by a MacMurray defender for out No. 2.

Emily Forbes (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) made sure EC would at least avoid the shut out as she smacked an RBI single into left pulling her team within 3-1.  On the throw in, she smartly took second to get the tying run into scoring position, but a strikeout ended the threat minutes later.

The Red Devils will see MacMurray again for their next games for the conference portion of the season series Tuesday, March 25 at 3:00 pm in Jacksonville.

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For More Information Contact:

Brian Sullivan
Sports Information Director
Eureka College
300 E. College Avenue
Eureka, Illinois 61530
309-467-6456
bsullivan@eureka.edu