UNI softball sweeps Illinois State in Sunday doubleheader

Sunday, April 24

Cedar Falls, Iowa

12 PM

University of Northern Iowa

25-11, 16-1

Illinois State University

19-23, 9-9

Illinois State

Northern Iowa

UNI softball sweeps Illinois State in Sunday doubleheader

4/24/2022 7:34:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The UNI softball streak is up to 13 games after two more wins against Illinois State on Sunday afternoon.

It was a productive day at the plate for both teams in Sunday's doubleheader action between Northern Iowa and Illinois State. But the Panther's consistency throughout the lineup proved to be the difference as they took both games by scores of 8-7 and 7-3.

Game 1 | W, 8-7
UNI would strike first on Sunday as left fielder Kamryn Shaffer hit a deep single to left field with two on base, bringing right fielder Sammy Moss home. Shaffer and center fielder Madison Parks would be left on base to end the first inning after two straight outs. Illinois State would answer in a big way during the top of the third inning to take the lead for much of the game.

The Redbirds would bring a runner home off an error to starting pitcher Kailyn Packard to tie the game. Two batters later, Illinois State's batting leader Emme Olson doubled to left-center for another run, giving the Redbirds a one-run lead. Olson would get caught stealing shortly after but another double would bring home left fielder KailiChval. Illinois State grabbed one more run in the third off a fielder's choice at first base to go up by three runs.

The Panthers would grab a run in the third as well as shortstop Kylee Sanders ran in from second after catcher Emmy Wells reached base on a Redbird error. It would be back and forth runs between the two teams through the next two innings as Illinois State would find an answer to UNI's offense. The Panthers would get a two-run homer from third baseman Brooke Snider in the bottom of the fourth inning that put the game back within one run. But the Redbirds had a solo home run in the top of the fifth to bring their lead back to two.

UNI scored two more runs in the fifth as Shaffer hit her fourth home run of the season and Wells hit a double RBI to score Sanders for the second time that game. The Panthers would get their first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth as designated player Mya Dodge hit a fielder's choice single for pinch-runner, Hannah Isley. Isley's lone run of the day would give UNI a 7-6 lead.

Illinois State tied it up again in the seventh with a single off of relief pitcher Samantha Heyer while runners were on second and third. But the Panthers found the walkoff win in the bottom of the seventh as Snider hit a sacrifice fly with only one out on the board. Sanders would have the winning run as she and Wells advanced from third and second on the sac fly.

Northern Iowa had four batters with two hits during the game (Parks, Shaffer, Sanders, Wells) and four other batters with a single hit each (Dodge, Hogan, Snider, Lamprecht). Only one Panther in the starting lineup didn't record a hit in the first game of the day. Snider led the team in RBIs with three while Shaffer and Wells had two.

UNI used both their aces in the first game of the day as starting pitcher Kailyn Packard spent six innings inside the circle for six hits, six unearned runs, and nine strikeouts. Heyer came to the dish in the final inning, throwing two strikeouts while allowing one hit and one run.

Game 2 | W, 7-3
Samantha Heyer continued her strong performance in the circle into the second game of the doubleheader, throwing a career-high 15 strikeouts through seven innings of work. The Panther offense backed up Heyer's work in the dish with seven runs and nine hits through the complete game.

UNI again took an early lead, this time in a big way. The Panthers quickly loaded up the bases in the first with Dodge, Parks, and Sanders all reaching base through five at-bats. Wells then stepped up to the plate to hit her second grand slam of the weekend, launching a moonshot to right-center to give Northern Iowa a 4-0 lead.

Both teams were retired in order in the second and Illinois State went down in order during the third as well. The Panthers grabbed two hits in the third but weren't able to do anything with the hits as Shaffer was caught trying to steal home at third base. The two teams left runners on base without any runs scored in the fourth as well. But the Redbirds got their first run of game two with a solo home run to lead off the fifth inning.

Illinois State's next three batters were struck out by Heyer to put UNI in the middle of its lineup. Parks led off with a double to right-center that was followed by Shaffer reaching first on a Redbird error. The Panthers next two batters would get caught out but brought second baseman Taylor Hogan to the plate with two on.

Hogan fouled off two quick pitches before hitting a three-run homer to center field to give UNI a 7-1 lead. Illinois State didn't go down without a fight in the final two innings of the game. The Redbirds had another solo home run to begin the sixth inning and a double in the top of the seventh to make it a 7-3 game. But Illinois State's final run of the game was scored with two outs on the board and their next batter flew out to left field to end their rally.

The Panthers had just two batters with multiple hits in the second game of the day as Dodge and right fielder Sammy Moss both recorded two. Five other batters recorded a hit each while Parks was the only runner to score twice. Wells led the team in RBIs for the second time this weekend following her grand slam in the bottom of the first.

UP NEXT:
UNI gets just a day off before their next game at in-state MVC rival Drake. The third and final game of the series will take place in Des Moines at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26.