BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Mackenzie Marquis pitched the sixth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan to two wins over the UW-Stevens Point softball team by earning two wins, including a no-hitter in game two, as the Titans topped the Pointers 4-3 and 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at IWU Softball Field.
No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan 4, UW-Stevens Point 3 | Box Illinois Wesleyan (16-2) broke a 3-3 tie on a RBI double by Katie Caulfield in the bottom of the fourth inning and Marquis struck out eight UW-Stevens Point (6-11) hitters over 3.1 innings of scoreless relief for the Titans.
IWU scored three runs in the third to lead 3-0 before UWSP came right back with three runs of its own in the top of the fourth.
Sydney Opdahl (Greenfield, WI/Whitnall) got the Pointers on the board by singling in
Paige Allen (South Elgin, IL/South Elgin) before scoring on a double by
Samantha Olson (New Lisbon, WI/New Lisbon).
Alison Kuhne (New Berlin, WI/West ) the followed with a single that plated Olson to tie the game at 3-3.
The Titans replied in the bottom of the fourth on Caulfield's game-winning, two-out double to left off starter
Miranda Morrison (Madison, WI/East). Morrison worked 3.2 innings for the Pointers before
Sydney Gorges (Hortonville, WI/Hortonville) limited IWU to one hit in the final 2.1 innings.
Marquis made sure the 4-3 lead held up, allowing two hits and two walks in her 3.1 innings of work after relieving Chloe Montgomery. Olson was the only UWSP hitter with multiple hits and recorded her second two-hit game of the season.
No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan 3, UW-Stevens Point 0 | Box Marquis threw a no-hitter with six strikeouts to lead Illinois Wesleyan to a 3-0 win in game two. The freshman right-hander allowed five baserunners, four walks and an error, and only allowed one player to reach second base in the game.
UW-Stevens Point had two batters reach base in the second but the first was erased on an attempted stolen base. The Pointers also had a runner on second with one out in the fifth but Marquis stranded
Katie Uhlenbrauck (Hortonville, WI/Hortonville) at second.
Illinois Wesleyan scored the only run Marquis would need in the first when Danielle Smith lined into a double play that scored a run. The Titans added two runs in the second on a two-run double by Sam Gudat.
Gorges threw four innings of three-hit ball in relief for UW-Stevens Point.
The Pointers open Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play on Thursday, April 2 at McCarty Memorial Field against UW-Superior. The doubleheader between the Pointers and Yellowjackets begins at 3 p.m.
