FREEPORT, ILL. - The Madison College softball team has matched their season-long win streak of six games after sweeping Monday's doubleheader at Region IV foe Highland Community College. The #11-ranked WolfPack defeated the Cougars by scores of 11-1 and 9-4, improving the all-time record against Highland to 11-6 with wins in their last five meetings. The 'Pack also won six consecutive games from March 22-April 15.

Game #1: #11 Madison College 11, Highland Community College 1 (7 innings)

After neither team scored in the first two innings, both were able to tally a run in their respective half of the third. Freshman Morgan Dercola opened the inning with a triple to right, and scored on sophomore Hannah Grahl's liner to left. The Cougars used a single and double against freshman starting pitcher Maddie Fink to even the score. From that point it, it was all WolfPack, as the visitors put up four runs in the fifth and six runs in the seventh, all while holding the home team scoreless. Second year outfielder Paige Cornelissen drove in two runs with a single, and then scored on the play due to an error to make it 4-1. Freshman Paige Hintz later doubled in Irene Tomasovic to make it a four-run game. In the seventh, Platts added to more runs with a double to left, and Grahl rounded out the scoring with a three-run homer to deep left that made it 11-1. The long ball is her second of the season.

Dercola, a native of Sussex, Wisconsin, was a perfect 4 for 4 with three runs scored to lead the WolfPack in all three categories. She racked up two doubles and a triple en route to setting a new career-high for hits. Platts, a third baseman from Burlington, Wisconsin, was 3 for 4 with two RBI and and a run scored. Tomasovic and Grahl also posted multiple hits, with Grahl, a former Laconia High School athlete, scoring two runs and matching a career-high by driving in four runs.

Fink (9-2) kept her own winning streak in tact with her seventh consecutive victory. The righthander from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, surrendered just one earned run on four hits and four walks, while also striking out three batters in her seven innings of work.

Game #2: #11 Madison College 9, Highland Community College 4 (7 innings)

Game two saw Highland Community College (17-15) take the first lead with a three-run second inning against starter Jordan Martin. The righthander allowed a two-run homer to the second batter of the inning. The WolfPack answered in the third as Montana Platts tripled to score Olivia Bancroft-Hart, and the crossed home herself when Dany Gumz drove a single to right to cut it to a 3-2 deficit. Madison College took a 4-3 lead in the fifth with three straight base hits. Platts opened with a single and scored when Gumz doubled to left. Irene Tomasovic followed with a single to right to give the 'Pack the one-run advantage. They made it an 8-3 ballgame an inning later as Platts, Gumz, and freshman Kaela Kraemer all drove in runs. Kraemer, a former Wisconsin Heights High School athlete, lined a triple to the centerfield wall that scored two runs. Highland tacked on their final run in the home half of the sixth before Bancroft-Hart hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh for the final five run differential.

Platts and Gumz each had three hits, with Platts scoring a team-high three runs and driving in two, and Gumz posting three RBI and adding two runs scored. Dercola and Grahl both went 2 for 4 in the game.

Martin (8-2) struck out six batters over six innings, and held the Cougars to four runs, two of which were earned, on nine hits during her six innings in the circle. Fellow freshman Brianna Farrington notched her first career save with a scoreless inning of relief in which she gave up two hits and struck out one batter.

Up Next: 

Madison College (27-9, 6-5) will complete its North Central Community College Conference schedule with a doubleheader against Joliet Junior College (27-13, 2-3) on Tuesday, April 23 in Madison. The WolfPack have won 22 straight games against the Wolves, and own a 31-13 edge in the all-time series. First pitch at Robert D. Goodman Softball Field is set for 3:00 p.m., with game two to follow at approximately 5:00 p.m.

All home Madison College softball games can be streamed live at MadisonCollege.tv.

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