Saturday, April 22
Champaign, Ill.
5:00 pm CT
Michigan State University
8
at
12
Illinois
Photo by: Sarah Smith
Softball Battles Illinois in Offensive Slugfest
4/22/2023 9:20:00 PM | Softball
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Michigan State was defeated in an offensive showcase on Saturday night, falling to Illinois by a final score of 12-8 at Eichelberger Field.
Spartan Stats
In one of Michigan State's best offensive performances of the season, the Spartans tallied 11 hits with seven different Spartans recording base knocks. Four Spartans had multi-hit games with freshmen Britain Beshears and Mandy Esman, sophomore Macy Lee and senior Kennedy Wyllie all having two hits.
Lee and Esman had extra-base hits, with Lee homering to deep left and Esman doubling. Wyllie drove in a pair of RBIs on her two singles. Senior Jessica Mabrey and Beshears finished with one RBI each. Also with hits for MSU were junior Alexis Barroso and senior Anna Fox. Senior Kendall Kates drew a pair of walks, with Fox drawing one.
Sophomore Ashley Miller (6-10) started in the circle for Michigan State on Saturday night pitching 5.1 innings in the circle before sophomore Madison Taylor came on to pitch in relief.
How It Happened
Illinois broke through first, scoring on a wild pitch in the first inning. Illini outfielder Stevie Meade reached on an error making the run unearned to Miller.
Michigan State tied things up in the third after the first two batters of the inning reached base. Fox walked and Mabrey reached via error allowing Snyder to drop down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. A one-out fly ball to deep right by Lee drove in Fox from third on the sac fly.
The Fighting Illini gained an advantage in the home half of the third on a double steal that saw an Illini runner come home on the throw down to second. Illinois tacked on a second run on a single up the middle, one of four base hits for Illinois in the third. MSU's Miller navigated a two-on, no out situation to prevent any additional runs from scoring.
MSU used a deep drive by Mabrey and several Fighting Illini mistakes to score three runs in the fourth. Beshears, Barroso and Fox each singled to open the inning, loading the bases for Mabrey. Mabrey singled off the wall in right-center to score pinch running freshman Hailey Bila from second. A fielding error by the Illini catcher allowed Barroso to score on the play and advanced Mabrey to second. A double-steal attempt would later put Mabrey on third, who scored on a wild pitch the following at-bat.
Saturday's back-and-forth battle continued in the fourth as a two-out Illinois rally tied the game up at 4-4. Consecutive hits from Illinois' Kelly Ryono and Kailee Powell gave the Fighting Illini a counter to Michigan State's big inning.
Lee gave the Spartans a 5-4 lead to lead-off the fifth inning, belting her first home run of the season over the left field fence. The Spartan sophomore was originally called out on a ground out but was called back to the batter's box due to an illegal pitch. A defensive miscommunication by the Illini led to Michigan State's second run of the inning as MSU took a 6-4 lead.
Illinois got one run back in the bottom of the fifth to cut into Michigan State's lead, but the real story of the inning was Miller, who got out of a bases loaded jam with two consecutive outs to end the inning. Miller struck out the final batter of the inning swinging to end the Illinois threat.
The slugfest continued in the sixth as Illinois scored seven runs to open up a 12-6 advantage over the Spartans. Michigan State added two runs to its final tally in the seventh but could not match Illinois' big inning.
Up Next
Michigan State will conclude its three-game series against the Fighting Illini on Sunday, April 22 at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
Spartan Stats
In one of Michigan State's best offensive performances of the season, the Spartans tallied 11 hits with seven different Spartans recording base knocks. Four Spartans had multi-hit games with freshmen Britain Beshears and Mandy Esman, sophomore Macy Lee and senior Kennedy Wyllie all having two hits.
Lee and Esman had extra-base hits, with Lee homering to deep left and Esman doubling. Wyllie drove in a pair of RBIs on her two singles. Senior Jessica Mabrey and Beshears finished with one RBI each. Also with hits for MSU were junior Alexis Barroso and senior Anna Fox. Senior Kendall Kates drew a pair of walks, with Fox drawing one.
Sophomore Ashley Miller (6-10) started in the circle for Michigan State on Saturday night pitching 5.1 innings in the circle before sophomore Madison Taylor came on to pitch in relief.
How It Happened
Illinois broke through first, scoring on a wild pitch in the first inning. Illini outfielder Stevie Meade reached on an error making the run unearned to Miller.
Michigan State tied things up in the third after the first two batters of the inning reached base. Fox walked and Mabrey reached via error allowing Snyder to drop down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. A one-out fly ball to deep right by Lee drove in Fox from third on the sac fly.
The Fighting Illini gained an advantage in the home half of the third on a double steal that saw an Illini runner come home on the throw down to second. Illinois tacked on a second run on a single up the middle, one of four base hits for Illinois in the third. MSU's Miller navigated a two-on, no out situation to prevent any additional runs from scoring.
MSU used a deep drive by Mabrey and several Fighting Illini mistakes to score three runs in the fourth. Beshears, Barroso and Fox each singled to open the inning, loading the bases for Mabrey. Mabrey singled off the wall in right-center to score pinch running freshman Hailey Bila from second. A fielding error by the Illini catcher allowed Barroso to score on the play and advanced Mabrey to second. A double-steal attempt would later put Mabrey on third, who scored on a wild pitch the following at-bat.
We've got a tie game in the fourth!
— MSU Softball (@MSU_Softball) April 22, 2023
Jessica Mabrey's deep shot to right-center scores one, with Alexis Barroso scoring a second after the ball gets past the catcher.#GoGreen | #UNLEASH pic.twitter.com/WhzIJhlczM
Saturday's back-and-forth battle continued in the fourth as a two-out Illinois rally tied the game up at 4-4. Consecutive hits from Illinois' Kelly Ryono and Kailee Powell gave the Fighting Illini a counter to Michigan State's big inning.
Lee gave the Spartans a 5-4 lead to lead-off the fifth inning, belting her first home run of the season over the left field fence. The Spartan sophomore was originally called out on a ground out but was called back to the batter's box due to an illegal pitch. A defensive miscommunication by the Illini led to Michigan State's second run of the inning as MSU took a 6-4 lead.
That's one way to capitalize on an illegal pitch call. Macy Lee comes back to the batters box and launches one over the left field wall for her first home run of the season!
— MSU Softball (@MSU_Softball) April 22, 2023
MSU takes a 5-4 lead in the fifth.#GoGreen | #UNLEASH pic.twitter.com/QcrbMmt1tX
Illinois got one run back in the bottom of the fifth to cut into Michigan State's lead, but the real story of the inning was Miller, who got out of a bases loaded jam with two consecutive outs to end the inning. Miller struck out the final batter of the inning swinging to end the Illinois threat.
The slugfest continued in the sixth as Illinois scored seven runs to open up a 12-6 advantage over the Spartans. Michigan State added two runs to its final tally in the seventh but could not match Illinois' big inning.
Up Next
Michigan State will conclude its three-game series against the Fighting Illini on Sunday, April 22 at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
Players Mentioned
3B
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
2B
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
LHP
/ Softball
C
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