AURORA, Ill. -- The Rockford University softball team traveled southeast for a NACC doubleheader against the Aurora University Spartans on Sunday. The Regents dropped both games, 9-6 and 9-0.
The Regents will return to action on Tuesday, April 21, when they go on the road for a doubleheader against Wheaton College starting at 3 p.m. CDT.
Game One: Aurora 9, Rockford 6
Tayiah Scanlan had the bat going. She was 3-for-4 with a double, triple, and RBI.
Liz Mois was 2-for-4 with a solo home run. That blast marked a program record 23rd home run of the season. The Regents have time to extend that record, with a guaranteed eight games left on the schedule.
Claire Shanahan started game one. She gave up six hits and four earned runs in two innings.
Lorelei Monk went the rest of the way, giving up seven hits and three runs while also notching a strikeout.
Rockford struck first in this one.
Payton Willenkamp drove Scanlan home from second with a single to center to put RU up 1-0 after the first.
The Spartans took the lead in the bottom of the second, scoring two runs off a single to left field.
There were a bunch of runs scored in the third.
Sophia Hulsey and
Neelah Vandeberg each knocked in a run back-to-back to grab the lead, 3-2. Aurora scored five runs off of six hits in the bottom half of the third to take control, 7-3.
The Regents kept the crooked numbers going with another two runs in the fourth. This time it was Scanlan and
Brooklyn Lee with back-to-back RBI doubles to cut the deficit to two.
Aurora put up a run in both the bottom of the fourth and sixth, holding the Regents scoreless until the seventh, when Mois attempted to ignite a rally with a leadoff homer to right-center.
Unfortunately, that is where the rally ended. No more runs crossed the plate for the Regents, who fell 9-6.
Game Two: Aurora 9, Rockford 0
The Regent offense went dormant in the second game. Lee, Willenkamp, and Hulsey each had a single, compiling the entirety of the Regents' hits in this one.
Kendall Knoll threw three innings, giving up six earned runs on 12 hits. Vandeberg pitched the other inning, giving up two earned runs of her own on three hits.
The Spartans took control early. They scored two runs in the bottom of the first, never relinquishing the lead from there.
The Regents couldn't figure out Mia Rivera, who pitched the entire game for AU. Her five-inning shutout consisted of just three hits and one strikeout.
Aurora scored another run in the third to go up 3-0, pouring it on in the fourth, putting six runs on the board to put itself firmly in the driver's seat.
Rockford was unable to score in the top of the fifth to extend the game. Aurora sealed the sweep with a 9-0 win.
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