WAUWATOSA, Wis. - The Rockford College softball team finished its 2013 compaign on Wednesday afternoon with a road doubleheader against the Mount Mary College Blue Angels. The Regents were in control for the entirety of both games sweeping the Blue Angles 12-1 and 15-0.
The Regents used a pair of five-run innings to distance themselves from Mt. Mary to win game one. Rockford took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Brittany Bura (Chicago, Ill./Trinity) drove in Jossilyn Jones (Rockford, Ill./Guilford) who had singled to leadoff the game. The ladies then scored five runs with two outs in the second inning to take command of the game. Jones drove in the first run of the inning off an infield single to third base. Freshman Heidi Dockstader (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) then drove in Jones with an RBI single of her own giving the Regents a 3-0 lead. Jessica Segalla (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem) and Nicole Lawler (Pearl City, Ill./Pearl City) each plated a run off an RBI double and RBI single respectively. The final run of the inning came courtesy of a walk by Marah Erbe (Stillman Valley, Ill./Stillman Valley). Following a scoreless third, Rockford added to its lead in the fourth off a Bura RBI single. The Blue Angels the proceeded to score their only run of the day in the bottom half of the inning making it a 7-1 game heading into the fifth inning. That is when Rockford used its second five-run inning of the game to seal the victory. Dockstader drove in the team's first run when she singled into center field to score Segalla. Two batters later, Bura hammered her first collegiate home run to put the Regents up 11-1. Rockford would add one more run when Shannon Hoppes (Cedar Rapids, Ill./Jefferson) hit an RBI single into the outfield to score Alexis Ford (Cortland, Ill./DeKalb).
In addition to her excellent hitting, Brittany Bura also pitched very well and earned her sixth win of the season in the opener. Bura threw a complete game two-hitter. The freshman surrendered just one run while striking out seven. Bura finished the season on a hot streak winning six of her last eight starts.
Game two was very similar to the opening game as Rockford scored 15 runs and silenced the Mount Mary bats. The ladies again wasted little time getting on the scoreboard pushing across three runs in the top of the first innings. Following a leadoff walk, pitcher Sarah Moritz (Heyworth, Ill./Heyworth) tripled in Jones to score the first run of the game. Senior Alexis Ford singled in the final run of the inning giving her team a quick 3-0 lead. One innning later Rockford put the game away scoring eight runs to grab an 11-0 advantage. The Regents took advantage of some wildness by the Blue Angels pitching staff drawing six walks in that inning. Maranda Walker (Rockford, Ill./Boylan) and Jessica Segalla each singled in a run while Marah Erbe drove in a pair of runs off her single to right center field. Rockford continued its offensive blitzkrieg with three more runs in the top of the third inning. Jones drove in the first two runs of the inning off a 2-run single while Segalla drove in the final run of the inning with a single of her own. The ladies added one final run in the fifth courtesy of a Segalla sacrifice fly to cap off the 15-0 win.
Sarah Moritz finished her season with an impressive performance in the circle in game two on Wednesday. Moritz threw her fourteenth complete game and third shutout of the season. She surrendered just 3 hits and no runs over her five innings of work. Moritz also struck out three batters.
The Rockford College softball team finished the 2013 season with a 12-16 overall record and an 8-16 record in the Northern Athletics Conference to finish in eleventh place.
