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#2 Indianapolis (30-1, 16-0 GLVC): 3, 12
at Southern Indiana (20-12, 11-7 GLVC): 2, 2
-HTML Box Scores:
Game 1 |
Game 2 (5 innings)
EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Junior shortstop/pitcher
Stephanie Bittner went a combined 3-of-5 with three RBIs, but it was not enough as the University of Southern Indiana softball team dropped both games of a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader to No. 2 University of Indianapolis Saturday afternoon at the USI Softball Field. USI lost the first game, 3-2, and the second, 12-2, in five innings.
After spotting the Greyhounds (30-1, 16-0 GLVC) a pair of runs in the second inning and another in the third, the Screaming Eagles broke through in the home half of the sixth inning when Bittner drove in the first of two USI tallies with a double down the leftfield line.
USI (20-12, 11-7 GLVC) cut the Greyhounds' lead to a single tally in the next at-bat as Bittner advanced to third on an infield single by freshman catcher/shortstop
MacKenzi Dorsam and took home on the throw to first base.
Indianapolis junior pitcher Jennifer DeMotte, however, got senior designated player
Kristen O'Haver to pop up to the second baseman for the third out of the inning; then retired USI in order in the seventh frame to escape with the win. DeMotte (20-1) also went 3-for-3 at the plate with a run scored and an RBI to aid her effort.
Indianapolis, which extended its NCAA Division II-best winning streak to 26 games, used three hits and a walk to score three times in the top half of the first inning of game two to build a three-run cushion. The Greyhounds capitalized on a pair of USI errors in the second inning to score four more runs and extend their advantage to 7-0.
Bittner, who gave up five runs, four earned, off five hits in three-and-a-third innings of relief work in the nightcap, had a two-run triple in the third inning to cut USI's deficit to five runs. The Greyhounds, however, scored once more in the fourth inning and four times in the fifth frame to hand USI its season-worst third straight loss and its first via the eight-run rule.
Freshman pitcher
Brooke Harmening took the loss in both games despite a strong effort in the opener. Harmening (11-8) gave up three runs off seven hits in game one before surrendering three runs off four hits in just two-thirds innings of work in the nightcap.
USI, which visits Indianapolis next Saturday, returns to action Sunday at noon when it hosts Saint Joseph's College in a GLVC doubleheader at the USI Softball Field. The Pumas (20-10, 11-5 GLVC) split a doubleheader at Kentucky Wesleyan College Saturday in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Sunday's games are the first of four straight against the Pumas, who host USI for a twinbill Friday in Rensselaer, Indiana.
