BATON ROUGE, La. –
Isabella Flores delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning as Lamar University earned its first victory of the season by defeating Big Ten opponent Illinois, 4-3. This was the first extra-inning walk-off win since March 21st last season against East Texas A&M.
Flores and
Roxy Thompson each picked up two of LU's eight hits while driving in a run.
Cala Wilson also recorded an RBI with a double.
Ava Prejean got the start for the second-straight game and went 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Mallory Pitre picked up the win in relief with 6.1 innings of one-run, three-hit ball and a strikeout.
The Fighting Illini took an early 1-0 lead in the first and loaded the bases in the second, but Prejean escaped trouble by getting a foul out to catcher
Makenzie Wright. The Cardinals put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the third as Wilson drove in
Cimara-lei Wessling with an RBI double while
Sicily Windham reached on an error to score Wilson and put LU ahead 2-1.
Illinois received a boost from Adisyn Caryl, who tied the game in the top of the fifth with a one-out double. The game stayed tied until the top of the ninth when Caryl sent an 0-1 pitch over the left field fence for a solo homer. The Cardinals wouldn't back down as Thompson came up with a one-out RBI double to score
Gracee Hess and prolong the game.
Neither side came through in the tenth, but the Fighting Illini threatened in the 11
th inning with the go-ahead runner on third base and one out. LU's defense stepped up with plays by Windham and
Kalie Amos to keep the game tied. After two outs in the bottom of the frame, Thompson reached on an error and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Flores battled the count to 3-2 before singling up the middle to score Thompson and get the victory.
The two teams will have a rematch Saturday at Tiger Park. The first pitch will be thrown at 3 p.m.
