(Sugar Grove, IL.) – Waubonsee Community College's softball team ran into a buzzsaw on Thursday afternoon. Madison (WI.) College overwhelmed the Chiefs 15-1 in five innings and then secured an 11-5 win in the second game to sweep the twin bill on Waubonsee's diamond. The Chiefs (11-8) managed just four hits and committed five costly errors in the opener as the Wolfpack (12-3) booked 11 unearned runs in the game. The visitors then scored three runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to pull away late in game two. 

Waubonsee flashed some leather in the early going by turning a double play in the top of the first inning to squelch a potential Wolfpack rally. Alyssa Perkins then led off the bottom half of the frame by smashing a drive to the right center field fence. However, Madison's Rylee Rogers ran down the ball for the first out, which proved to be important. AnnaMarie Vivirito followed with an infield single up the middle, Bree Crosby was hit by a pitch and Ionicca Rivera then drew a walk to load the bases with one out. After a fielder's choice force out at home, the Chiefs got on the board when Mackenzie Fraus was hit by a pitch to push across a run. Wolfpack starting pitcher Kendall Weik escaped any further damage by getting a strikeout to end the inning. 

The Wolfpack answered in the top of the second knotting the score via a single and two errors by the Chiefs. After a walk loaded the bases, it appeared Chiefs' starter Morgan Iwanski would get out of the jam. Iwanski recorded a strikeout for the second out and then induced a ground ball to short. But another error on Waubonsee allowed a second run to score and a walk pushed across a third run before a fly out to center ended the inning. Madison added two more runs in the third on a single and back-to-back doubles to make it 5-1. The visitors then broke the game open in the fourth, knocking Iwanski out of the game on the way to scoring five runs. As a lite rain began to fall the Wolfpack poured it on tallying five more in the fifth highlighted by a line drive, grand slam home run just inside the left field foul pole by Brooke Anderson. Iwanski took the loss in the circle, charged with allowing six runs of which only half were earned. The Chiefs had just six base runners with Fraus ripping a double in the fourth inning for Waubonsee's lone extra base hit.

Again, in game two, Waubonsee got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first. Perkins drilled a lead-off, solo home run to left field, her fifth of the season, to give the Chiefs a quick 1-0 lead. Vivirito then laced a single to left and stole second and third, eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly out by Rivera. Madison pulled even in the top of the third when Tailor Bartlett launched a solo home run to right field. Rogers followed with a triple and scored on an infield single to tie the game at 2-all. The Wolfpack surged in front in the top of the fourth doing all the damage after two were out and no one on base. Three straight singles and a two-run double highlighted the three-run frame at Madison took a 5-2 lead. The Chiefs threatened in their half of the fourth but were stymied when Rivera was thrown out at home for the second out.

Waubonsee again threatened in the fifth inning as McKenna Ignasak drilled a double to left field to lead off the inning. However, she was thrown out at third trying to advance on a passed ball two pitches later. That proved to be a pivotal play as Iwanski then reached on an error and Perkins lined a single to center field. Crosby followed with a double down the right field line to drive in Iwanski and get the Chiefs within 5-3. Wolfpack starting pitcher Brooke Steinhorst was then able to get out of the jam by retiring Rivera on a pop out to second. Madison utilized that momentum and scored three unearned runs off Waubonsee hurler Avery Lundblad in the top of the sixth to jump ahead 8-3. The Chiefs got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning when Brooke Pfeiffer doubled and scored on a two-out single up the middle by Ignasak. 

Madison then extended its lead with a two-run triple to the right field corner by Bartlett in the top of the seventh. Two batters later she scored on a fielder's choice ground out to make it 11-4. Down seven runs with three outs to go Waubonsee did not roll over. The Chiefs got two runners on base before Rivera smacked a run-scoring single to center. But the game ended with a little bad luck for Waubonsee as Pfeiffer lined a shot to the right side that Weik, the Wolfpack first baseman, snagged and stepped on the bag to double off Rivera. Pfeiffer finished the game 3 for 4 with a double and a run scored. Perkins and Ignasak each registered two hits apiece, while Rivera knocked in a pair of runs in the loss. Waubonsee is set to host Milwaukee Area (WI.) Technical College this coming Saturday, March 29 in a noon doubleheader. The 'live' stream of the games can be seen at www.Fan.Hudl.tv/WaubonseeChiefs