Clermont, Fla. - The Illinois Central College softball team (4-6) continued its trip to Florida on Tuesday with matchups against the Mott Bears and South Suburban Bulldogs. A late surge by the Bears gave them a victory in the opener, before the Cougars flipped the script and chipped further away for a six-run winner over the Bulldogs. 

GAME 1 | MOTT 10, ICC COUGARS 4
Mott got on the board with a couple runs in the top of the second inning, but the Cougars would respond with a two-run fourth, getting an RBI single from Shylar Boze and Reagan Linder reaching on an error that scored Nivarra Oredina to tie it up at two apiece.

The Bears followed with the game-deciding inning, scoring six runs in the top of the fifth inning to surge ahead 8-2. 

ICC got back on the board with a pair of RBI plays from Oredina (single, scoring Kylie Hyde) and Boze (sacrifice fly, scoring Gracie White) to pull within 8-4 through five innings. 

The offense capped when Mott added two more runs on an error and a sacrifice fly to set the final score. 

HITTING STATS
Gracie White (RF) | 1 single
Marley Williamson (2B) | 1 single, 1 double, 1 walk
Nivarra Oredina (SS) | 2 singles, 1 RBI, 1 stolen base
Shylar Boze (3B) | 1 single, 2 RBI
Kylie Hyde (LF) | 2 singles
Reagan Linder (DP) | 1 stolen base

PITCHING STATS
Addison Church | 4 IP, 5 SO
Hanna Evans | 3 IP, 0 ER, 2 SO

GAME 2 | ICC COUGARS 10, SOUTH SUBURBAN 4
After falling 10-4 in the first game of the day, the Cougars would perfectly flip the box score and take a win by the same score when they took on the South Suburban Bulldogs. ICC's bats charged ahead early. Shylar Boze continued her quality day with a two-run single, scoring Marley Williamson (single) and Nivarra Oredina (reached on error). 

The Cougars would surrender a home run to get within 2-1, but that would be the closest the Bulldogs would get. Madi Kessler sacrificed over both Olivia Strawn (single) and Reagan Linder (leadoff single), with Linder scoring to go ahead 3-1. 

Williamson got her third hit of the day when she singled to score both Stawn and Kessler to take a 5-1 advantage. 

Hanna Evans held the Bulldogs scoreless in the third and fourth innings to keep the lead where it was. Evans helped herself out with a sacrifice fly to score Kessler and a 6-1 lead. 

ICC would get the long-ball working as well, when Boze doubled on the first pitch of her at-bat, followed by a second-pitch home run for Marlee Brown, making it 8-2 Cougars.

The Bulldogs would get within 8-3 on an RBI single, but ICC's offense would shut the door when Boze singled again, and on that play, both Williamson and Oredina scored on the same error for the ninth and 10th runs of the game. 

South Suburban would push one last run across on the second-to-last plate appearance to make the game final. 

HITTING STATS
Marley Williamson (SS) | 3 singles, 2 RBI, 3 stolen bases
Nivarra Oredina (DP) | 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Shylar Boze (3B) | 2 singles, 1 double, 3 RBI
Marlee Brown (1B) | 1 double, 1 home run, 2 RBI
Reagan Linder (2B) | 1 single, 1 stolen base
Olivia Strawn (LF) | 1 single
Zoe Eeten | 1 single
Madi Kessler | 1 single, 1 RBI
Hanna Evans | 1 RBI

PITCHING STATS
Hanna Evans | 7 IP, 7 SO

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
2024 Spring Games
vs. Central Lakes & Hawkeye
Wednesday, March 13th - 11:30 AM / 1:30 PM
Hancock Park - Clermont, Florida
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