(Clermont, FL.) – Waubonsee Community College's softball team continued their successful Spring Trip by taking a pair of 10-2 victories on Sunday to stay unbeaten under the central Florida sun. The Chiefs offense jumped on Hawkeye (IA.) Community College early and then after a 45-minute rain delay in the fifth inning, finished off grounding the Red Tails. Waubonsee (8-4) followed that up by pulling away late to knock off Niagara County (NY.) Community College in five innings in a night game at the Hancock Sports Complex.
The Chiefs scored four times in the top of the first against Hawkeye and never looked back. Alyssa Perkins led off the game with a double to the left field fence and scored a batter later when Bree Crosby bounced a single through the middle of the infield. Mackenzie Fraus, Brooke Pfeiffer and Julia Hupp all registered run-scoring singles before the Red Tails were able to record three outs. Waubonsee starting pitcher Avery Lundblad worked out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom half of the first before the Chiefs offense went back to work. Crosby smashed a solo homer to center field, her fourth long ball of the season already, and Pfeiffer lined a single to center to drive in Ionicca Rivera to make it 6-0 in the second inning. Waubonsee added two more runs in the third as Perkins and Crosby knocked in teammates with line drive singles to give first-year head coach Hannah Tomasko's crew an 8-1 lead. It remained that way through a rain and lightning delay before the Chiefs closed out the last two frames for the win. Lundblad allowed just two hits and one run over the four innings of work she had in the circle. Morgan Iwanski finished things off by tossing the final three innings. Crosby ended the contest 3 for 5 with three runs scored and three driven in. Perkins, Rivera, Fraus, Pfeiffer and McKenna Ignasak each booked two hits apiece.
In their second game of the day the Chiefs fell behind 2-0 before scoring 10 unanswered runs. Waubonsee surged ahead 4-2 in the bottom of the second highlighted by a three-run blast over the left field fence by Perkins. Crosby then drilled a two-run double to center field in the fourth to push the lead to 6-2. Waubonsee then completed the eight-run after five innings slaughter-rule by scoring four times in the bottom of the fifth. Haley McCoy drove in a run with a one-out single through the left side of the infield. Ignasak followed with a double down the left field line to send McCoy home before a Niagara error allowed another run to score. Maya Brito then stole second and third to set the stage for Perkins to walk it off. The slugging first baseman from Aurora West High School did so in an improbable way by laying down a perfect bunt single down the third base line to score Brito and end the game. Perkins knocked in four runs for the game, while Crosby and McCoy each tallied two hits. Iwanski earned the victory in relief by allowing just one hit and no runs over the final four innings, striking out eight and walking two.
The Chiefs continued their southern swing with a pair of games on Monday, edging Ripon (WI.) University's Junior Varsity 3-2 on another walk-off bunt by Perkins. Waubonsee then suffered its first loss in Florida as Simpson (IA.) University's Junior Varsity took advantage of four Chiefs' errors to cruise to an 11-1 win in five innings. Waubonsee is set to close out its trip tomorrow, Tuesday, March 18, when they take on Region 4 foe South Suburban (IL) College at 4:30 p.m. (EDT). The Chiefs are scheduled to play Parkland (IL) College at 6:30 p.m. (EDT) at Hancock Sports Complex in their final game.
