DES MOINES – Iowa Wesleyan College senior Ashlee Winner (Rushville, Ill.) broke the school’s single season record for strikeouts, but the Tigers dropped a pair of games to Grand View University Friday afternoon.
IWC lost to the Vikings by scores of 12-1 and 5-1, falling to 17-27 on the season and 9-15 in the Midwest Collegiate Conference with four conference games left in the season. The Tigers were unable to generate much offense against GVU pitchers, posting just three hits in the first game and then failing to capitalize on a number of opportunities in the second game.
IWC’s day was highlighted once again, though, by the pitching of Winner, who struck out 12 in the second game of the doubleheader. She erased the school’s single season record for whiffs with her eighth strikeout of the game, breaking the old mark set by Erin Weeks in 1999. The 12 K’s also marked the fourth time this season she has surpassed 10 strikeouts in a game, and she now has recorded 81 strikeouts in her last 60 1/3 innings pitched.
Winner finished the day with 145 strikeouts for the season, and against Grand View she kept the Tigers in the game most of the way, allowing six hits for the game and just one earned run in the first five innings. IWC was unable to make the most of its chances, though, outhitting the Vikings in the game but scoring just a single run in the third inning.
Wesleyan had base runners in all but one inning and stranded nine runners in the game. Grand View scored once in the first and then a pair of unearned runs in the third, and then put the game away with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth for the final margin.
Jerri Fuentez (Sr.-Houston, Texas) had a pair of hits to lead the offense. Stephanie Benge (Sr.-Mount Pleasant, Iowa) drove in Colleen Baggett (Jr.-Rolling Meadows, Ill.) with the Tigers’ lone run.
Grand View made quick work of the Tigers in the opening game of the doubleheader, pounding IWC pitching for 12 hits including three home runs. Megan Anderson hit a grand slam in the first inning and finished the day with two homers and eight RBIs in the doubleheader. Kelley Bettag (Fr.-Dale, Ind.) scored Wesleyan’s lone run, coming home on a passed ball in the fifth inning.
IWC closes out its regular season at home this weekend against Viterbo (Wis.) University with doubleheaders scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The series starts with a pair of games starting at 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon and continues with two more games starting at noon on Sunday. The Tigers and V-Hawks are in a battle to stay out of eighth place in the MCC standings, and Wesleyan will need at least a split of the series to finish ahead of Viterbo in seeding for the upcoming conference tournament.
For more information regarding the IWC softball program or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
Box score GVU 12 IWC 1
Box score GVU 5 IWC 1
