The Monmouth College softball team started their 2022 season in Peoria on Friday with a pair one one-run losses. The opener was a 3-2 loss to Mount Mary, who started their season on Thursday and the nightcap was a 4-3 loss to Elmhurst College.
Makaylea Sepich (Mackinaw, Illinois) picked up the first hit of the season with a double in the top of the first. Olivia Riddley (Chatham, Illinois) walked but the Scots left runners on the corners.
Mount Mary took the lead in the third inning with two singles and a sacrifice fly. They added two more runs in the fourth on three singles and an error.
Monmouth got on the board in the fifth inning. Allie Ramlo (Tremont, Illinois) doubled to start the inning. She stole third and scored on a double by Calista Warmowski (Spring Grove, Illinois).
Abby Leber (Tremont, Illinois) held MMU scoreless over the next two frames. In the top of the seventh, Ramlo reached on an infield single and moved to second on a ground out. Sepich doubled to right to score Ramlo and cut the Scots deficit to 3-2. With the tying run in scoring position, the game ended when Leber’s fly ball hit the roof of the dome, an automatic out according to the ground rules.
Leber (0-1) took the loss allowing just one earned run on seven hits in the complete game. She struck out eight and walked three. Sepich had two doubles and a RBI while Warmowski also had a RBI double and Ramlo went 2-for-3 with both runs scored. Ridley drew two walks and had a single in her collegiate debut.
In the second game, Elmhurst took the lead with four runs in the top of the second inning. They had a walk and six singles in the frame to take a 4-0 lead.
Monmouth got back into the game in the fourth inning. MyKenzie Kloess (Dupo, Illinois) doubled with one out, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. In the fifth inning, Warmowski singled and with two outs, she scored from second on a single by Jessica Pauley (Moline, Illinois).
The Scots cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the sixth. Kloess singled and moved to second on an error. Ramlo laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt and Kloess came around to score as Elmhurst attempted to pick her off third base on the play. Pauley singled in the seventh but was left at second base as the tying run as Elmhurst won the game 4-3.
Anna McCarty (Buffalo, Illinois) threw 5 shutout innings of relief in her college debut. Jenna Pauley (Moline, Illinois) started on the mound and took the loss.
The Scots were originally scheduled to play two games on Saturday in St. Louis but those games have been canceled due to inclement weather. The contests against Hanover College and Franklin College will not be made up. As it stands, the next Scots game will be on the spring break trip against Gordon College on Sunday, March 6 in Clermont, Florida.
***Report Courtesy of Monmouth College***
