“It was great to see our team respond today,” said head coach Shannon Guthrie. “They came out and played great softball all day long. Our pitchers did a fantastic job throwing two shutouts with great defense behind them.”
GAME ONE | W, 8-0
In the first inning, the Prairie Stars capitalized on a series of walks. Rebecca Neupauer scored on a fielder’s choice by Calista Stahlhut, followed by Bailey Masching crossing the plate on a groundout by Jaden Watts. The inning ended with UIS leading 2-0.
The second inning saw Olivia DeLuca reach second base on an error. Bartletti drove in DeLuca with a single, and later scored on Masching’s sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-0.
UIS added two more runs in the third, including an unearned run by Stahlhut and an RBI groundout from Chloe Scroggins to make it 6-0. In the fourth, Neupauer walked, stole two bases, and scored on an error to push the lead to 7-0.
After a scoreless fifth, UIS capped the scoring in the sixth when Neupauer walked again and came home on Masching’s triple, ending the game via run rule at 8-0.
Bartletti was dominant in the circle, tossing a complete game shutout over six innings. She allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out three to improve to 8-3 on the season.
Neupauer scored three runs, stole three bases, and drew three walks, while Masching added a triple and two RBIs.
“Rosie Bartletti really set the tone for our team today and came out and commanded the pitching circle,” said Guthrie. “The defense had a great day all around. The offense did a nice job of working together and using a lot of small ball and speed to get runs on the board. It was great to come back and get a run rule after yesterday. They put runs up in five of six innings and had quality at-bats all the way through the lineup.”
GAME TWO | W, 5-0
UIS completed the sweep with a 5-0 win behind a stellar outing from Calista Stahlhut and a late offensive surge.
The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning when Sidney Sawyer, pinch-running for Hailey Niebrugge, scored on a single by Chloe Scroggins to give UIS a 1-0 lead.
In the sixth, the Prairie Stars broke the game open with four runs. Masching singled to start the rally, and Emme Steward doubled to move a runner into scoring position. Stahlhut drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Watts that brought in another. Bartletti later added an RBI single to cap the inning and extend the lead to 5-0.
Stahlhut delivered a complete game one-hit shutout, striking out four and walking two over seven innings to earn her ninth win of the season. Steward finished with two hits and a run scored, while Scroggins added two hits and an RBI.
Guthrie praised her team again after the day’s second game. “Calista Stahlhut had an amazing game in the circle. The defense again made some key plays. We had a couple of players come off the bench to give us some speed right when we needed it. Hailey was able to get us started with a solid line drive and we got Sidney in there to run for her. We worked well moving her over into scoring position and Chloe had the hit that went far enough to score Sidney. The next inning, they were able to do the same thing with Bailey leading off, Sophie running for her, and the team putting insurance runs on the board. They battled hard all day and put together two big shutout GLVC wins.”
Up Next
The Prairie Stars travel to Missouri next weekend, facing Drury on Saturday in Springfield before heading to Rolla on Sunday to take on Missouri S&T.
