Every good team goes through rough patches.

Last Saturday, the No. 21 Maroons (19–5) competed on the diamond in Bloomington, IL against Illinois Wesleyan University in a doubleheader.

The Titans took two games against Chicago, and No. 17 IWU (28–5) pushed its win streak to eight.

“I think we are more than capable of beating IWU the next time we see them, which is likely to happen at some point in the postseason,” said second-year pitcher Jordan Poole. “As a team I think we did a good job putting pressure on them, and the scores don’t reflect the true feeling of the game.”

In the first inning of game one, the South Siders started strong with a single and run (scored off an error) by second-year outfielder Devan Parkison.  However, the bottom of the third saw the Titans counter with two home runs to bring the score to 3–1. In the fourth, Illinois Wesleyan loaded the bases and came away with five runs on a double, and two singles. A throwing error by the Maroons led to one more run in the sixth to finish the game with a 9–1 loss.

Chicago had four hits and three errors. Poole pitched the first three innings before leaving the game in the fourth  with seven hits, eight runs, two walks, and four strikeouts.  Third-year pitcher Emily Ashbridge threw for the rest of the game with one hit, one run, and one walk.

Everyone knows teams win and lose together. However, Poole still humbly took the blame.

“I take a lot of responsibility in terms of the first game—I threw poorly and got hit very hard. The team responded incredibly well, but it is hard to come back when the pitcher is being hit that hard,” Poole said.

The team kept fighting, nonetheless, and went into the next game with fire. In the top of the first inning, the South Siders loaded all bases, but no runs came to score.  The Titans came back with a home run in the bottom of the first and scored twice more in the second. No one was able to score after that, and the game finished with a 3–0 score.

In game two, Chicago tallied seven hits and one error, a vast improvement from the earlier game. Third-year pitcher Tabbetha Bohac threw all six innings for the Maroons, totaling five hits, three runs, and one strikeout.

“I think we need to continue to stay loose and play our softball,” Poole said. “We are having an incredible season, and I know everyone is looking forward to Lake Forest, rather than backward at IWU.”

The Lake Forest College Foresters (19–5) were on a 13-game winning streak—until yesterday’s loss to Wheaton—and have consistently crushed their opponents with large deficits. One of their four losses, however, was to Hope College, a team the Maroons defeated last week in a doubleheader. Chicago is optimistic.

“Lake Forest is playing really well,” Poole said. “We need to be less concerned with them and more concerned with staying within ourselves. We can beat any team as long as we play our game.”

The Maroons will play their penultimate home doubleheader against Lake Forest at 3 and 5 p.m. today.