Game 1
at Southern Indiana (26-17, 14-14 GLVC): 6
Kentucky Wesleyan (17-28, 11-21 GLVC): 5
-Box Score: HTML | Sortable |
Game 2
at Southern Indiana: 10
Kentucky Wesleyan: 2
-Box Score (5 inn.): HTML | Sortable |
|
EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Southern Indiana softball team swept a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader from Kentucky Wesleyan College Wednesday at the USI Softball Field. It was the final GLVC meetings of any kind between the two long-time rivals as the Panthers will compete in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference beginning in 2013-14.
USI (26-17, 14-14 GLVC), which dropped two spots to eighth in the latest NCAA II Midwest Region rankings, rallied from a 5-3 deficit to earn a 6-5 win in the opener; then scored 10 unanswered runs for a 10-2, five-inning victory in the nightcap.
An RBI-double by sophomore
MacKenzi Dorsam in the bottom of the first inning gave the Screaming Eagles a 1-0 advantage in game one. Junior
Teri Newmaster had a bunt-single to push across another run in the second as the Eagles went up, 2-0.
Kentucky Wesleyan (17-28, 11-21 GLVC), however, answered on the strength of a two-run double by freshman Mackenzie Weedman in the top half of the third inning to tie the score.
Junior
Kelsey Jankowski briefly gave the Eagles the lead in the home half of the third inning with a run-scoring fielder's choice; but the Panthers loaded the bases in the fifth before putting up tallies in three consecutive at-bats to take a 5-3 edge.
USI rallied with two outs in the sixth and benefitted from two straight Kentucky Wesleyan errors to tie the score at 5-5.
After a base-running error nearly looked as if it had taken away a golden-opportunity for the Eagles to end the game in the seventh, junior
Kyla Gogel hit a double into the left-centerfield gap to score freshman
Kaitlyn England all the way from first base and give USI the 6-5 win.
Sophomore
Brooke Harmening (18-9), who was 3-of-4 at the plate in the opener, earned the win after giving up five runs off nine hits and striking out four batters.
Kentucky Wesleyan junior Meagan Sallee hit a two-run blast in the top of the second inning of game two as the Panthers grabbed a 2-0 lead. USI, however, answered with three spots in both the third and fourth innings before sending four runners home in the fifth inning to win via the eight-run rule.
Dorsam, who was 4-for-4 with three RBIs in game two, had RBI-singles in the third, fourth, and fifth frames, while England pushed the game-tying and go-ahead runs across the plate with a two-run single in the third.
Freshman
Janna Green, who was 2-for-3 with four RBIs, had an RBI-double in the fourth and a three-run triple in the fifth. Fellow classmate
Sarah Owens (7-7) earned the win for the Eagles after giving up two runs off six hits in five innings of work.
The Eagles return to action Saturday at 11 a.m. (CDT) when they take on Bellarmine University in a GLVC doubleheader in Louisville. USI concludes the regular-season Sunday at noon when it travels to Lebanon, Illinois, to take on McKendree University in a conference twinbill.
