After a string of seven wins, Illiana Christian's good fortune finally ran out on Wednesday. They fell just short of the Beecher Bobcats by a score of 3-2. Illiana Christian was red-hot at the plate headed into the matchup (they scored no less than ten runs in the three matches prior) but Beecher's pitcher proved too tough.
Mikayla Derks spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered three runs (all of which were unearned) on six hits.
On the hitting side, Illiana Christian saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Lydia VanderWoude, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
On Beecher's side, Taylor Norkus made a splash while hitting and pitching. She struck out seven batters over four innings while giving up just one earned run off six hits (and not a single walk). Norkus has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in seven consecutive pitching appearances. Norkus was also big at the plate, going 3-for-3 with an RBI.
Having lost for the first time this season, Illiana Christian fell to 7-1. As for Beecher, they pushed their record up to 14-1 with that victory, which was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season.
Illiana Christian will be playing in front of their home fans against Griffith at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Illiana Christian: 2, Griffith: 1.8) so any runs scored will be well earned. As for Beecher, they will head out on the road to square off against Antioch at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (Beecher: 0.5, Antioch: 1.7) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
