QUINCY, Ill. -- Sophomore
Kellie Fenza drove in a career-high five runs and sophomore
Morgan Sikon drove in a career-best four runs and Wisconsin-Parkside earned its first Great Lakes Valley Conference victory of the season with a 13-1 win over Quincy on Sunday at the Mart Heinen Complex.
With the win, Wisconsin-Parkside earned a split of the conference doubleheader against the Hawks. Quincy won the opener 6-5 in eight innings and the Rangers rebounded to win game two.
Fenza was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a career-high five RBI while also hitting her first career home run to lead the Rangers to the win, while Sikon was 3-for-4 with a run scored and four RBI.
Jessica Shields added two hits and two RBI, while
Carly Dundee,
Rachel Seefeldt and
Rilie Berg each had a base hit for the Rangers.
Wisconsin-Parkside, which improved to 5-15 overall and 1-3 in the GLVC, received outstanding pitching from
Bridget Jost and
Allison Hausl. Jost started and went 3.1 innings allowing just two hits and no earned runs to earn her first win of the season. Hausl pitched the final 1.2 innings and permitted just one hit and struck out one batter.
The Rangers raced out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning of game two.
Shields singled to lead off the game and stole second base to move into scoring position. Fenza followed with a base hit up the middle to score Shields and put the Rangers in front 1-0.
The Rangers upped the lead to 2-0 when Sikon hit a two-out single to bring home Fenza.
Wisconsin-Parkside would double the lead with two more runs in the top of the second inning.
Berg led off the second inning by drawing a walk and pinch runner
Sara Markelonis advanced to second on a wild pitch. Hausl followed with a walk and both runners moved up on another wild pitch. Fenza hit a two-out single scoring Markelonis to increase the lead to 3-0. Dundee brought home the second run of the inning when she reached on a bunt single that scored Hausl.
Quincy, which dropped to 7-9 overall and 2-2 in the GLVC, got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning with a run but the Rangers responded with nine runs in the top of the fifth inning to blow the game open.
The nine-run outburst was highlighted by a three-run homer by Fenza, while Sikon had a two-run double and a run-scoring single in the inning and Shields had a two-run single and Seefeldt added an RBI single.
Quincy won the opener 6-5 in extra innings when Jackie Farbak hit a game-winning single to score Dana Walsh with the winning run.
Dundee led the Rangers in game one with two hits and three RBI, while Sikon had two RBI. Fenza, Seefeldt and
Megan Aliverti each had hits for Wisconsin-Parkside.
Wisconsin-Parkside took the lead in game one also as Dundee blasted a two-run homer in the top of the first inning.
Quincy cut the lead in half with a run in the bottom of the first inning, but the Rangers countered with a run in the top of the third inning when Dundee hit a double to bring home Fenza to increase the lead to 3-1.
Quincy responded with a run in the bottom of the third inning, but Wisconsin-Parkside answered with two runs in the top of the fifth inning. Sikon brought home both runs in the inning when she roped a double to right that scored Seefeldt and Dundee to up the lead to 5-2.
The Hawks then tied the game by scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth inning and then won it in extra innings with a run in the eighth.
Wisconsin-Parkside returns to action on Tuesday (March 21) when it opens a three-game series at Upper Iowa with a single game beginning at 3 p.m. The two teams will conclude the series with a doubleheader on Wednesday (March 22) beginning at noon.
