Cornell’s softball team finished the regular season with a momentum-building 9-1 Game 2 victory in six innings over third-place Illinois College on Sunday’s Senior Day at Van Metre Family Softball Field.
Illinois College took the opening game, 4-0, in a matchup of teams bound for next week’s Midwest Conference Tournament in Lake Forest, Ill.
Coach Jackie Yoder’s Rams (16-17 overall, 10-6 MWC) earned the No. 4 seed and will face undefeated regular-season champion Lake Forest (28-11-1 overall, 16-0 MWC) at 12 p.m. Friday. No. 2 seed Grinnell (24-14 overall, 13-3 MWC) plays No. 3 seed Illinois College (19-20 overall, 12-4 MWC) at 10 a.m. Friday.
Hannah Rhoades (8-3) pitched all six innings in the Game 2 win, which snapped a nine-game series skid against the Lady Blues. She yielded seven hits and stranded 10 Lady Blues runners on base. Rhoades escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the second inning.
Brooke Furman and Caitlin Babcock both delivered two-run hits in the bottom of the second that pushed the Rams ahead 4-1. Babcock finished with three RBIs in her final collegiate home game.
The Rams ended the contest with a four-run sixth inning, capped by a walk-off RBI single to left field from Elise Oleson, who went 2-for-3 at the plate. Katie DelCorso had a two-run double in the sixth. Senior all-conference catcher Miranda Keith also doubled for her 105th career hit as a Ram.
Illinois College senior Julia Drake fired a five-hit shutout in the opener. She got help from a Cheyenne Anderson three-run homer in the top of the first. The Lady Blues added an unearned run in the seventh against Cornell starter Lexi Ellermeier (5-10), who recorded her eighth complete game in the circle.
The Rams left seven runners on base in Game 1. Babcock, Keith, Peyton Souhrada, Monet Roelle and Furman had one single apiece for Cornell.
Between games, Cornell’s program recognized its five seniors in Keith, Babcock, Mady Rainey, Mary Puffett and Kaylynn Sparks.