Southern Indiana (16-22, 13-11 GLVC): 9, 3
at Kentucky Wesleyan (14-25, 9-13 GLVC): 4, 2
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
OWENSBORO, Ky.—The University of Southern Indiana softball team improved its odds of qualifying for the GLVC Tournament Tuesday as it swept a conference doubleheader from host Kentucky Wesleyan College at Foster Field.
USI (16-22, 13-11 GLVC) racked up a combined 26 hits and had five home runs en route to a 9-4 win in game one and a 3-2 triumph in game two.
Junior centerfielder Reva LeDune-Bourgasser, who was 3-for-4 in game one, had a two-run home run in the top of the second inning to get the Screaming Eagles out to a 2-0 advantage in the opener.
After falling behind, 3-2, later in the contest, the Eagles used the long-ball to retake the lead in the fifth inning. Freshman pitcher Stephanie Bittner hit a solo home run to lead the frame off, while junior third baseman LeAnn Collins hit a two-run blast to give USI a 5-3 advantage.
The Eagles capitalized on an error to plate their fourth run of the fifth inning as they took a commanding 6-3 advantage.
USI had three doubles and a two-run home run, off the bat of junior first baseman Brittany DeWeese, in the seventh inning to extend its advantage to 9-4. Sophomore second baseman Amanda Brendel had an RBI-double later in the inning to complete the Eagles' scoring.
Bittner (5-2) picked up the win in the first game after giving up four runs, one earned, off nine hits in seven innings of work. She came on in the sixth inning of game two to earn her first collegiate save.
Trailing 1-0, DeWeese led the top of the fourth inning of game two off with a solo home run over the leftfield fence to bring USI into a 1-1 tie. DeWeese, who leads the Eagles with 7 home runs, 34 RBIs, 11 doubles, and a .379 batting average, went a combined 4-of-6 at the plate with three RBIs in the two games.
Senior catcher Tara McConnell, who was 3-of-4 at the plate in game two, gave the Eagles a 2-1 advantage later in the fourth inning with an RBI-single.
USI upped its advantage to 3-1 when senior designated player Sara Loete hit a run-scoring double to leftfield.
Kentucky Wesleyan (14-25, 9-13 GLVC), which stranded a combined 23 runners on base, scored in the last half of the fifth inning to cut the Eagles' advantage in half. The Panthers, however, left the bases loaded in the fifth and sixth innings and stranded the tying run at third base in the seventh frame.
Sophomore hurler Hadley Clark picked up the victory for the Eagles. Clark (6-13), who left the game in the sixth inning with an injury, gave up two runs off six hits in 5.1 innings of work.
USI concludes its regular-season home schedule Thursday at 4 p.m. when it hosts Oakland City University in a doubleheader at the USI Softball Field. USI's doubleheader at IUPU Indianapolis that was rescheduled for April 27 has been cancelled.
