The Billikens traveled to Chicago last weekend to take on DePaul
University, but and left being swept by the Blue Demons in three
straight games.
Game one went into extra innings in a dramatic pitching duel in
which Freshman Elizabeth Nielson battled until the decisive
10th.
“We were playing excellent defense and it came down to who
scored first,” said Junior Beth Schomaker.
DePaul strung together three hits and then finally scored on a
bases loaded walk to win the game 1-0.
“Liz pitched an excellent game,” Schomaker said. “We needed to
get hits in there and wejust couldn’t do it.”
The Billikens offense struggled coming up with only three hits
in the game.
“I was disappointed, because we put a lot of effort into that
game. It was a hard one to lose,” Schomaker said.
Game two was won in the third inning when the Blue Demons scored
five runs off of five hits and would go on from there to take the
game 7-0.
Then the Billikens struggle in one inning and that cost them the
game.
“We need to get rid of the mental errors because that is how
they score on us,” Schomaker said.
The Billikens tried to compete with the 19-19-1, 10-5 in
Conference USA Blue Demons, but could not pull though with only
four hits on the game.
“We had a couple of hits here and there, but didn’t hit as a
team,” said Schomaker. “We were not aggressive enough at the plate
and we need to change that.”
Offensive woes continued for the Billikens with a 9-1 loss on
Sunday to finish out the three game stand against DePaul.
“We need to be more aggressive at the plate and hit as a team to
win,” Schomaker said.
Bittick across after her lead off single, a hit batter, and an
error by the Blue Demons first baseman. And things started to look
promising for the Bililkens in the inning as they tried to climb in
to the ball game.
But DePaul would add four more runs to take the 9-1 win and the
sweep.
After three conference games against DePaul, the Billikens now
stand at 1-14 overall in C-USA play with not too many games left to
play.
“We have played teams that are tough but a lot of the teams we
could have beaten,” Schomaker said. “It’s a lot of mental games. We
need to not think about the games as conference games and play like
we know how.”
The Billikens also fell with scores of 8-0 and 4-0 last
Wednesday against Southern Illinois after being held to only one
hit in the first game and two in the second.
AshLeigh Williams had the only hit in the top of the fourth of
game one.
The first inning of game two looked promising for the Billikens
as Adrienne May started off the game with a single and Jill Pursell
reached baseon a Southern Illinois throwing error.
But after both runners advanced a base as a result of a passed
ball, the Billikens could bring the runners home. Again in the
sixth, after an Ashlee Heady hit, the Billikens had runners at the
corners but we unable to capitalize on the opportunity.
“As a team we are getting out on our own time and going to the
batting cages,” said Schomaker.
With 11 games left on the regular season, the Billikens are
16-34 overall and 1-14 in Conference USA play.
“We are working hard on our own time, and hopefully this weekend
we will see that turn into hits,” Schomaker said.
This weekend the team faces East Carolina at home with a
doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. and continuing on
Sunday at 12:00.
“We can got out strong, go in hard, know we have nothing to
lose, and that all the pressure is on the other team,” Schomaker
said.
C-USA ROAD TRIP
Who: East Carolina Pirates
When: Saturday 1 p.m.
Where: Billiken Sports Center
