RIVER GROVE, ILL. - The Madison College softball team scored a season-high in runs as part of a Region 4 doubleheader split on Friday at Triton College. The WolfPack ran away with the opener to win 17-2 in five innings; however, the Trojans rallied in the bottom of the seventh for a 6-5 walk-off win in the finale. Sophomore Ava Stahl made history in the second game, becoming the eighth player in school history to record three doubles in a single game. The all-time series now sits at 31-18 in favor of the Pack.

Game #1: Madison College 17, Triton College 2 (5 innings)

The Madison College was rolling in the day's first game, and it started with a four-run top of the first. Stahl's opened with a single to right, a steal of second, and eventually scoring on a wild pitch to make it 1-0. Brooke Steinhorst, the day's starting pitcher, helped her own cause with a run-scoring single to plate Rylee Rogers. With the bases loaded and two outs later in the frame, first year catcher Hayden Schabel lined a single to right that allowed Steinhorst and Brooke Anderson to score.

Triton College did get one run back in the home half with a triple and a single; however, the WolfPack made it a 5-1 game in the second when Steinhorst doubled in Raegen Schwarz.

The WolfPack busted the game wide open in the third with five more runs on just one hit. With runners on second and third, Schabel reached on an error by the third baseman as Kendall Weik scored, and another error on the right fielder off a Stahl fly ball brought Bartelt in to score. Following a pitching change, a walk of Rogers forced in pinch runner Kaley Koltz. Jeneya Marquez Perez and Stahl each scored a batter later when another error was committed on a throw to get Marquez Perez at home was off line. 

After both teams added a single run in the fourth, including a RBI-double by Schabel drive in Tailer Bartelt, the visitors took care of the run-ruled victory with six more runs in the fifth, and they all came with two outs. Weik followed an Anderson single with a triple to right, and then scored when Bartelt doubled to center. After two walks loaded the bases, Stahl and Rogers hit back-to-back run-scoring singles to make it 15-2. A walk of Schwarz forced in a run, and an error a Steinhorst grounder capped the scoring as Stahl touched home.

Schabel, a native of Iron Ridge, Wisconsin, used two hits and a walk to score one run and drive in a career-best four runs. Stahl posted two hits, scored three runs, and drove in another, while Anderson and Weik each had two hits and two runs scored, with Weik also earning a RBI.

Rogers and Schwarz both finished with two runs batted in, a hit, and a run scored. Bartelt, an Evansville, Wisconsin, native, finished 1 for 2 with two walks, three runs scored, and one RBI.

At the plate, Steinhorst was 2 for 4 with two runs batted in and a run scored. In the circle, the righthander from Poynette, Wisconsin, limited the Trojans to two runs on eight hits and three walks while fanning six hitters as she improved to 8-5 on the year.



Game #2: Triton College 6, Madison College 5

The day's second contest went back-and-forth right to the bitter end. Stahl's historic performance opened the game as the Wautoma, Wisconsin, native, who had five triples and no doubles to that point in the season, hit her first double to lead off the game. She scored two batters later on a Raegen Schwarz sacrifice fly to right for a 1-0 advantage. 

Triton College (25-7) pulled even at 1-1 in the second with a run-scoring double off starter Kendall Weik; however, her teammates responded with a run in the third to regain the advantage. Stahl again began the inning with a double, and crossed home when Schwarz lined a two-bagger of her own to left field. 

The Trojans secured their first lead of the day with two runs in the bottom of the third with a two-out, two-run homer to make it 3-2. Madison College (18-11) tied it up in the fifth when Schwarz registered her third run batted in with a line drive base hit to left, scoring pinch runner Kaley Koltz.

The 3-3 score lasted until the bottom of the sixth when two errors and two walks added up to another Triton College run. Stahl's history-making third double of the game in the seventh started a two-run rally to regain the lead, as she tied the game at 4-4 thanks to yet another RBI-single by Schwarz. Brooke Steinhorst followed with a ground ball that resulted in an error by the first baseman and Schwarz hustling around the bases to score the go-ahead run. 

Looking to close out the game and end a personal four-game losing skid, Weik took the circle and allowed a leadoff double. After recording outs to the next two batters, Weik was unable to secure the final out as the Trojans hit a walk-off, two-run homer to center for the 6-5 decision. 

Stahl and Schwarz each finished the game 3 for 3 at the plate. Stahl, who also sits one triple shy of tying the career-record at Madison College, tied for the most doubles in a game in school history and scored three runs. Schwarz, an Appleton, Wisconsin, native, drove in four runs, falling one shy of her career-best of five, and scored another.

Weik (7-6) went 6.2 innings and allowed five earned runs on nine hits and four walks with six strikeouts.

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