Illiana Christian came tearing into Friday's match with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.7 runs) and they left with even more momentum. They had just enough and edged the Crown Point Bulldogs out 3-2. This was payback for Illiana Christian, who suffered a 2-1 loss the last time these two teams met.
Mikayla Derks spent all ten innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on seven hits and racked up seven Ks. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Maya Wondaal, who got on base in three of her five plate appearances with a home run, a stolen base, and two RBI.
On Crown Point's side, Paige Liezert was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: she struck out 11 batters over 6.1 innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits.
On the hitting side, Crown Point saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Lexi Smith, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-5.
Even though they lost, Crown Point didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with 13 strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Illiana Christian only tossed seven.
Illiana Christian is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 18-3 record this season. As for Crown Point, their defeat ended a six-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 21-6.
Illiana Christian will head out on the road to square off against Bradley-Bourbonnais at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (Bradley-Bourbonnais: 2.7, Illiana Christian: 2.1) so any runs scored will be well earned. Crown Point does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
