Quincy (6-10, 1-1 GLVC): 3
at Southern Indiana (7-4, 1-1 GLVC): 2
-Game 1 Box Score: HTML | Sortable |
at Southern Indiana: 11
Quincy: 6
-Game 2 Box Score: HTML | Sortable |
EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Southern Indiana softball team sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five times in the top of the eighth inning of the second game against Quincy University to earn an 11-6 victory and forge a split of its Great Lakes Valley Conference-opening doubleheader Friday at the USI Softball Field.
USI (7-4, 1-1 GLVC), which suffered a 3-2 setback in the opener, scored twice in the first inning and added tallies in the second, third, and fourth frames to build a commanding 5-0 lead.
Sophomore
Brooke Harmening got the Screaming Eagles on the scoreboard in the first inning with a fielder's choice RBI. Junior
Kelsey Jankowski had RBIs in the first and third frames, while freshmen
Janna Green and
Kaitlyn England had RBIs in the second and fourth innings, respectively.
Quincy (6-10, 1-1 GLVC) took advantage of a USI error to score twice in the last half of the fourth inning to cut into USI's lead, but a fielder's choice RBI by England in the fifth inning put USI up, 6-2.
The Lady Hawks, however, got a solo shot from junior pitcher Wendy Macias in the sixth inning to shrink USI's lead to three runs; then hit back-to-back-to-back long balls to lead off the bottom half of the seventh inning to tie the contest at 6-6. Macias also had one of the home runs in the seventh.
Harmening gave the Eagles a 7-6 lead with an RBI-groundout that pushed Green across the plate in the eighth. Green led the inning off by reaching first on an error; then advanced to second on a bunt-single by England. Both runners advanced to the next bag on a wild pitch before Harmening drove in the go-ahead run.
A walk to Jankowski followed by another Quincy error led to two more tallies, while an RBI-single by junior
Lindsay Kivett put USI up, 10-6. Freshman
Sarah Owens ended the Eagles' scoring with an RBI-triple.
Harmening (5-2) earned the win after replacing Owens in the circle in the seventh frame. She blanked the Hawks on a hit and a walk in two innings of work.
USI trailed 1-0 in game one after Quincy took advantage of a lead-off walk and a passed ball in the bottom of the second inning. Harmening, who was charged with the loss in the opener after giving up three runs, two earned, off four hits, hit a solo home run in the sixth inning to tie the contest at 1-1.
Green had an RBI-single in the seventh inning to put USI up, 2-1, but Quincy took advantage of a lead-off walk and a defensive miscue in the bottom of the inning to score twice and earn the 3-2 win.
USI returns to action Monday at noon (CDT) when it takes on the University of Illinois Springfield in a GLVC doubleheader in Kissimmee, Florida. USI begins the Rebel Spring Games Tuesday.
