Western walks away with two windy wins

Friday, April 29

Jackrabbit SB Stadium

2 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Western Illinois

4/29/2011 7:45:00 PM | Softball

By: SDSU Sports Info

Kori Seidlitz struck out a career-high, and South Dakota State Division I single-game record, 13 Western Illinois batters in the second game of Friday's Summit League doubleheader and walked just three, but the Fighting Leathernecks scored six runs in a 6-3 win over the Jackrabbits to complete the sweep after blanking the Jacks 3-0 in the opener on a windy day in Brookings.

The sweep drops the Jacks to 9-39 overall and 6-14 in The Summit League, while Western Illinois keeps its postseason hopes alive with a 19-22 overall record, 14-9 in league play.

Pam Nicholson pitched well in the opener, giving up three runs on eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts, but the Jackrabbit offense failed to score, stranding six runners on base.

Seidlitz posted a rare four strikeout first inning for the Jackrabbits, as leadoff batter Nikki Marinec reached on a passed ball. In between the four strikeouts though, Western scored three runs to take the early 3-0 lead.

The Jacks pushed a run across in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 3-1, but the leathernecks then went up 5-1 with two more runs in the third.

SDSU scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, but also left the bases full in the first and fifth innings, stranding a total of 11 runners in the game.

Western tacked on an insurance run in the seventh for the final 6-3 score.

SDSU and WIU close out the series on Saturday at 1 p.m.