Cougars Overpower Lakers, Send Roosevelt To Elimination Game

CROWN POINT, Ind. – An early strike was not enough for Roosevelt on Friday afternoon in a 13-2 setback against No. 2 seed St. Xavier in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament at the Crown Point Sportsplex in Crown Point, Ind.

The fourth-seeded Lakers (23-17) will now face third-seeded Olivet Nazarene on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a chance to revenge against the Cougars. Should Roosevelt triumph against the Tigers, it would need to beat St. Xavier twice in order to win the tournament. Those two games would be played Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Kate Sisson found herself in some early trouble against the talented Cougars lineup in the first inning, but escaped a bases-loaded jam with her second strikeout of the inning to keep St. Xavier off the scoreboard. Her teammates responded in the bottom half of the inning by staking her to a 2-0 lead courtesy of a pair of two-out hits. Bailee Reynolds scored Scout Kram from third base with a single then Kirstin Fudge followed with a double to drive in Reynolds.

However, the advantage did not last long for the Lakers after six of the first seven St. Xavier batters in the second inning hit singles to drive in three runs. The Cougars added a fourth run on a sacrifice fly before Sisson got out of the inning with her third strikeout. Samantha Norman took over in the circle for the third inning and allowed a leadoff triple to score on a passed ball.

The Lakers had their moments to claw their back into the game, but left runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings. The deficit grew to 8-2 by the time Roosevelt came to bat in the fifth and Seren Horton allowed five runs in the seventh inning for the final scoreline. The Lakers did add two singles and a walk to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh, but flew out to end the game.

Roosevelt's pitching staff allowed a season-high 18 hits and surrendered a season-worst 13 runs, 12 of which were earned. However, Sisson's three strikeouts in the game and Norman's five punchouts put both of them over 100 strikeouts for the season, the second and third time a Lakers pitcher has eclipsed triple-digit strikeouts in a season. Both are still a ways off Sisson's school record 130 strikeouts from 2021, but the 220 team strikeouts are the second most in program history behind the 269 strikeouts in 2021.

Brynn Dvoracek was 2 for 2 with a walk in the game, doubling in the fourth inning then leading off the seventh with a single. Dvoracek also was the only Lakers player with a stolen base after swiping second to start the seventh inning.