ELSAH, IL – The Principia softball team opened their 2025 season with a bang on Friday as they earned their first victory in five years. The Panthers hosted the Harris-Stowe Hornets for a doubleheader in Elsah, and the new-look team showed they are not who they used to be. After losing a high-scoring game one 15-9, Principia ran away with game two 11-1 behind an 11-run third inning and a strong performance on the mound by Avery Cobb.
Freshman pitcher Makenzie Brown got the start in game one, and she began her collegiate pitching debut with back-to-back strikeouts and a ground out. She then came up fourth in the bottom of the first and got her first hit by lacing an RBI single to give Principia an early lead. Brown pitched a scoreless second with two more strikeouts before Harris-Stowe tied the game in the third and took a 3-1 lead in the fourth.
The Panthers retook the lead 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth, but the Hornets scored six runs in the fifth to open up 9-4 advantage. Principia kept fighting back and scored four cut it to a one-run game before Harris-Stowe scored six more in the seventh to close out a 15-9 Hornet victory. Despite the score, Brown actually pitched pretty well in the game as she tallied eight punch outs and only two of the 15 runs allowed were earned.
Senior Avery Cobb took the mound for Principia in game two and pitched outstanding, only allowing four hits and striking out four across five innings. The only run she gave up was unearned at the very end of the game. The Panther bats came alive in the bottom of the third as they got nine hits and drew three walks to score an impressive 11 runs in one inning. Brown had two hits in the inning including a clutch 3 RBI single with two outs. Cobb and Jasmine Shipley also had multiple RBIs in the inning.
The 11-1 victory was a big milestone for the program as it was Principia's first victory since March of 2020. Cobb was especially thrilled to get the first win of her career having been through a canceled season in 2023 and a JV season in 2024. On Monday, Cobb got her first ever conference recognition as she was named SLIAC Softball Pitcher of the Week thanks to her complete-game gem. This was the program's first conference player of the week award since 2019.
Next up, the Panthers will travel to Chicago over spring break for two doubleheaders against Elmhurst University on Thursday, March 20 and Wheaton College on Saturday, March 22.
