The Basics
Score: Evangel 10, William Penn 9 (12 inn.)
Records: Evangel (31-17); William Penn (20-30)
Location: Busse Field

Box Score

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Back-to-back 12th-inning hits by Josie Allcock and Ali Raley sparked a decisive two-run rally for Evangel, which outlasted William Penn for a 10-9 victory Friday evening at the 2021 Heart of America Athletic Conference Softball Championship at Busse Field.

Allcock delivered her second critical hit of the game—and her third of the day—for Evangel, belting a leadoff double into the left-center field gap, and Raley drove the next pitch through the William Penn infield to put EU on top to stay.

Evangel benefitted from a strong 8 1/3-inning relief effort from Abby Jo Emmitt (16-6), who closed out the victory in the home half of the 12th by inducing a pair of ground balls with the potential tying run in scoring position.

Kaydran Russell came through with a career-high four hits and a pair of RBIs for Evangel, which pounded out 15 hits to offset a season-high seven errors that led to five unearned William Penn runs.

Allcock, who drove in the go-ahead run in EU's 2-1 win over Culver-Stockton earlier Friday, homered in the fourth and produced her second two-hit performance of the day, while Raley, Kami Holt and Mariah Hanner added two hits apiece as well.

Evangel built a 5-0 first-inning lead, touching up William Penn pitching for four hits while cashing in three walks and a hit batsman to grab the early advantage. Back-to-back singles from Raley and Holt set the table, before bases-loaded walks to Marissa Lokey and Russell plated the first two runs of the game.

Hanner delivered a run-scoring single to stretch the margin to 3-0, and Annslee Leeviraphan reached via a hit-by-pitch to force home another run. Megan Stone capped the rally with an RBI-single to center, before Leeviraphan was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

The Statesmen rebounded in the home half of the second, taking advantage of a pair of Evangel errors to score five runs (four unearned). Lexi Resa and Lexi Riccardi drew walks with the bases loaded, and an EU miscue on Nayley Martinez's bouncer to second brought in two more runs. Rachael Haessly plated the equalizing tally with her fielder's choice grounder to the left side.

Allcock answered for Evangel in the top of the fourth, belting a two-run homer to left to make it a 7-5 contest.

But William Penn answered back on Riccardi's two-run blast in the home half of the fourth, after Valeria Quiroga's two-out base hit to left extended the inning.

Anah Noble sparked another EU scoring rally in the fifth, lining a one-out triple down the right-field line, before trotting home on Russell's single to center.

Once again, the Statesmen responded in the bottom half of the inning. This time on a round-tripper by Resa on a 3-2 offering from Emmitt.

Peyton Parker turned in a valiant effort for the Statesmen in circle, tossing 11 2/3 innings in relief of Kelsey Lint. Parker struck out five and allowed just three earned runs on 12 hits in the loss.

Up Next
Evangel moves on to meet the winner of the Central Methodist-Grand View game Saturday (May 8) at 12:30 p.m.

For the latest information on Evangel Athletics, visit Facebook at Facebook.com/EUAthletics, Twitter (@EUAthletics), or EvangelAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on their favorite EU teams by downloading the new Evangel Athletics Gameday App through Google Play.  

—EvangelAthletics.com—