(Sugar Grove, IL.) – Waubonsee Community College's softball team hosted McHenry County College in an Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) doubleheader in blustery conditions on Thursday afternoon. Paced by a record-setting performance by pitcher Brooklyn Marks the Chiefs (10-4, 4-0) took the opener 1-0. Waubonsee's offense came to life in game two as they bounced the Scots (1-8, 0-2) by the eight-run after five innings slaughter rule 8-0 led by Ionicca Rivera's three hits.
Game one was a pitchers' duel between Marks and McHenry's Gretchen Huber. As the wind began to howl and temperatures started falling, the Scots' Amelia Cervantes led off the game with a sinking liner to right field for a base hit. From that point on Marks was in complete control for the next five innings. The freshman right-handed hurler, who has been clocked as high as 64 miles per hour, set a program record by striking out eight consecutive McHenry batters during a stretch where she struck out 12 of the 14 hitters she faced.
Meanwhile, Huber kept the Chiefs in check for the most part allowing just two hits while striking out six and walking just one. But that lone walk proved to be pivotal in the outcome of the contest. McKenna Ignasak drew the bases on balls to lead off the bottom of the third. The Chiefs' catcher then promptly stole second base and moved over to third on a sacrifice bunt by Alejandra Aragon. Ashley Moore then lofted a fly ball to right that was dropped for an error as Ignasak rambled home with the only run of the game.
Marks struck out Cervantes for the second out in the top of the sixth before McHenry finally mounted a threat. Marks surrendered a single to right and then walked the next two batters to load the bases. But the Sandwich High School product kept her shutout intact by striking out the Scots' Rylie Radke to end the frame and register her 14th strikeout of the game to equal the program record set by Kelly Gain in 2001. Marks then struck out the side in the top of the seventh to eclipse the record and finish with 17 strikeouts, while walking three and allowing two hits on the way to picking up her sixth win of the season. Ignaska also set a Chiefs' single-game mark for putouts being on the receiving end of those 17 strikeouts, edging the program record of 16 jointy held by first basemen Alyssa Eby (2019) and Molly Jordan (2014). Madalyn Torrance smacked a double to left center to account for one of the Chiefs' two hits in the game as the home team managed just six base runners overall.
Per ISCC rules Waubonsee was the visiting team in game two and came out swinging in the conference match-up. Rivera led off the game with a line shot single to center. She scored two batters later when Sabrina Zamora singled to left to start the scoring. The Chiefs then put four more runs on the board in the top of the second inning highlighted by a double by Bree Crosby and run scoring singles by Rivera and Mackenzie Fraus. Waubonsee tacked on two more runs in the third as Crosby singled, stole second and eventually scored on a passed ball. Rivera added a two-out run-scoring infield single, her third hit of the game to make it 7-0. The Chiefs added an eighth run on a double steal in the fourth as storm clouds loomed on the horizon.
Chiefs' starting pitcher Peyton Dudzik kept the Scots under wraps allowing just a two-out single in the first inning on the way to tossing a five-inning one-hit shutout. The right-hander then retired nine in a row with the help of her defense highlighted by a spectacular diving catch of a sinking liner in the fourth by Hailey McCoy. Dudzik finished with six strikeouts and one walk as just two McHenry hitters reached base. Rivera went 3 for 3 with a walk, a run scored and two driven in. Crosby finished 2 for 3 with a double, two runs scored and three stolen bases. Kraus ended the game 2 for 3 with a run batted in.
Up next for Coach Hannah Tomasko's club is another ISCC doubleheader next Tuesday, March 31 when they host Moraine Valley Community College starting at 3:00 p.m. Waubonsee is set to begin April with a pair of road doubleheaders at Prairie State College on the second and in Moline against Black Hawk College on the fourth.
Brooklyn Marks with the ball from her 17th strikeout Brooklyn Marks about to unleash another fastball McKenna Ignasak registered a Chiefs' record 17 putouts