EAST PEORIA, Ill.—The University of Southern Indiana softball team defeated the Lewis University, 3-1 in nine innings, Saturday to stay alive in the GLVC Tournament at the EastSide Centre. However, a five-run fifth inning spelled doom for the Screaming Eagles as they fell to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, 9-4, later in the day.
USI (30-20), which reached 30 wins for the first time since 2002 and the seventh time in nine seasons, finishes third in the league tournament for the second straight season.
In the Eagles' victory over Lewis, junior first baseman
Angie Davis (Greenwood, Indiana) hit a two-run blast in the top of the ninth inning to lift USI to the victory. It was the second home run of the tournament and the eighth and ninth RBIs for Davis, who also made some spectacular plays in the field to help the Eagles hold the Flyers at bay.
Junior pitcher
Lindsey McNaughton (Carmel, Indiana) picked up the win, giving up just one run off six hits in nine innings of action. McNaughton (13-7) struck out four batters to pick up her second win of the tournament.
In the loss to UW-Parkside, sophomore catcher
Lisa Anderson (Chesterton, Indiana) hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning to give the Eagles an early 2-0 lead over the Rangers. The Eagles tacked on two more runs in the second inning on RBI singles by junior shortstop
Krista Nugent (Hurricane, Utah) and senior centerfielder
Sunny Oelling (Valparaiso, Indiana).
The Eagles were cruising into the fifth inning as junior pitcher
Missy Grover (Mishawaka, Indiana) held the Ranger lineup to just two hits in the first four frames.
UWP (32-22), however, took advantage of a one-out error by Nugent and seven hits, including a momentum swinging and lead-changing grand slam by UWP senior third baseman Mel Strohbusch.
USI could not rebound as it gave up a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh as its season came to a close. Grover (15-11) took the loss for the Eagles as she surrendered five runs, four earned, off eight hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings of work.