By ISU Sports Information
TEMPE- The Illinois State softball team split a pair of games to open the Littlewood Classic at Arizona State Friday evening in Tempe, Arizona. The Redbirds defeated North Texas in the first game before falling to No. 21 Arizona State in the nightcap.
ISU won their first game of the Arizona State Littlewood Classic and they won it with authority. Behind five home runs, including three from Jordan de los Reyes, the Redbirds defeated North Texas 10-3 to move to 3-3 on the season.
Annie Heineman set the tone early for how things were going to go, ripping a leadoff home run down the right field line in the bottom of the first. The Redbirds would strike again in the first with a Regan Romshek two-run blast that gave ISU an early 3-0 lead. Romshek then did her part in the circle, shutting out the Mean Green for three innings to start the game. That gave her offense more time to build a lead.
And build a lead they did, as the long ball helped ISU out again. In the third inning De los Reyes belted her first homer of the game and Lindsey Greene drove in another with a sacrifice fly. North Texas answered back with a run in the fourth and the fifth, but De los Reyes put the lead back to four with her second home run of the game in the bottom of the fifth.
UNT added a run in the sixth, but the Redbirds came back with four in the bottom of the frame, including De los Reyes' third of the ballgame. She finished 3-3 with three home runs and four RBI and becomes the first ISU hitter to hit three homers in a game since Abby Olson did so in 2008. For the Redbirds, it's the first time the team has hit five home runs in a game since 2011.
Romshek went 4-4 at the plate with a home run, two doubles and two RBIs while scattering seven hits and allowing just one earned run in the circle. Heineman finished 2-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Against Arizona State, the Redbirds fell behind 1-0 in the bottom in the second. However, De los Reyes’ big night carried over, as she gave ISU a 4-1 lead with a grand slam in the top of the third. It was her fourth home run of the day and it gave the Redbirds a lead over a ranked team for the second time this season.
ASU would go to work, chipping away at the ISU lead. The Sun Devils plated two runs in the bottom of the third to pull within one and Breana Macha was lights out in the circle following the third inning speed bump.
ISU managed just one hit in the 4-6 innings and in the bottom of the sixth the Sun Devils used the long ball to their advantage. Back-to-back solo shots gave ASU a 5-4 lead and then later in the inning a grand slam opened the game up to a 9-4 advantage.
However, ISU would not go down without a fight. The Redbirds loaded the bases in the top of the seventh, but they were unable to score and fell to 3-4 on the season. McKensie Vissering took the loss for ISU.
The top three hitters in ISU’s lineup recorded seven of the eight Redbird hits with Heineman’s three leading the way. Kara Repp added two, as did De los Reyes.
ISU now faces Washington and Oklahoma Saturday.
