Hilltoppers Earn Two More Wins at Hilltopper Spring Fling

Saturday, February 28

Bowling Green, Ky.

12:30 p.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

13-3

Illinois

6-12

Illinois

WKU

Photo by: Savannah Philpot/WKU Athletics

2/28/2026 10:31:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- WKU Softball continued its dominance at home with a pair of wins on Saturday against Illinois and Ball State.

Sophomore pitcher Erica Houge earned her seventh win behind a WKU (14-3 overall) offense that strung together an RBI single and sacrifice fly to take the win over the Fighting Illini (6-12 overall).

Meanwhile, the game against the Cardinals (7-5 overall) was won thanks to a walk-off, two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th from sophomore outfielder Kennedy Stinson.

WKU 2, ILLINOIS 1
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hilltoppers struck first in the bottom of the second inning after a single from junior catcher Maci Masters and two back-to-back walks loaded the bases. Junior infielder Morgan Sharpe capitalized with an RBI single to score the first run of the day.

Sophomore pitcher Erica Houge held Illinois scoreless through 4.1 innings before a sacrifice fly earned their one and only run.

WKU answered back in the home half of the fourth as a pair of singles put runners in scoring position and a deep fly ball from redshirt senior outfielder Jenna Blanton scored the go-ahead run.

Houge dazzled in the circle, needing only 71 pitches to work through the Illinois offense. In her third complete game of the season, she allowed only two hits and one earned run while fanning three along the way.

WKU 6, BALL STATE 4
The Cardinals opened WKU's second game of the day with a double and an RBI ground out, but junior outfielder Kendle White quickly answered in the bottom of the first with a home run to left field.

With both sides scoreless in the second, Ball State broke the tie with a two-run shot to left center to put the Cardinals up, 3-1.

A Masters single cut Ball State's lead in half in the bottom of fourth until an RBI single from the Cardinals pushed the lead back to two.

Sophomore infielder Anna Mauck continued to be a clutch hitter for the Tops and collected a two-RBI sacrifice fly to right field and tied the game, 4-4.

Neither side scored for three straight innings, pushing WKU to its second extra-innings game of the season.

In the bottom of the 10th, Stinson roped one to center field for a two-run home run and the first walk-off win of the season.

QUOTABLE
"I thought we battled in Game Two," said WKU Softball head coach, Amy Tudor. "In Game One we manufactured some runs and I thought we were strong in the circle in both games and we played great defense. Sometimes you don't score that many runs like we did yesterday so I'm proud of our ability to fight back, especially in a 10-inning game."

NOTABLES

The win over Illinois was the 48th win over a Power Four program in program history.
WKU improved its win streak to nine games while also improving to a perfect 8-0 when playing in Bowling Green.
Erica Houge picked up her sixth and seventh wins of the season and posted an almost invisible 0.79 ERA against Illinois. Her ERA improves to 1.95 on the season.
All nine starting Hilltoppers recorded at least one hit against Ball State, and all but two recorded hits against Illinois.
Jenna Blanton continues to be a problem for opposing pitchers, having only struck out once in 51 total at-bats and reached base a total of 32 times.
Annie White's two hits against Ball State marked her ninth multi-hit game of the season.
Kennedy Stinson extended her hitting streak to 11 games, the longest of any Hilltopper this season.
Maci Masters, Kennedy Stinson, and Jenna Blanton have gotten on base in 10, 11, and 12 straight games, respectively.

UP NEXT
The Hilltoppers will close out their non-conference schedule with one more game on Sunday, March 1, against IU Indy. First pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CT.