SPRINGFIELD, Mo.----The University of Southern Indiana softball team opened the day with a dominating 9-1 win, in five innings, over Drury University, before coming back in the nightcap to pull off the sweep following its 2-1 win.
The Eagles, who improve to 17-3 on the season, 4-2 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action, takes on Missouri S & T in a doubleheader matchup slated for 10 a.m. Sunday at the Panther's field in Springfield, Missouri, due to field conditions back in Rolla.
It was a slow start to the first game against the Panthers, as the Eagles only saw one hit in the first two innings.
That would change in the top of the third, however, as USI went on a 4-0 run, which began with a run by freshman
Olivia Clark-Kittleson (Carbondale, Illinois) after at hit by senior
MacKenzi Dorsam (Dubois, Indiana).
In the next at-bat, junior
Toni Braun (Evanston, Indiana), who led USI in game one with three RBIs, would hit a grounder to the pitcher but tallied an RBI as redshirt-freshman
Shelby Tate (Matoon, Illinois) crossed home for a 2-0 lead.
USI would score two more off RBI-singles by sophomore
Grace Clark (Indianapolis, Indiana) and senior
Brooke Harmening (Whiteland, Indiana), before allowing just one hit off in Druy's portion of the third, keeping the Panthers scoreless and trailing 4-0.
A leadoff double by sophomore
Lexi Reese (Lebanon, Indiana), in the top of the fourth, started the scoring sequence that would solidify USI's five-inning win.
Clark-Kittleson and Tate loaded the bases up with singles of their own before Dorsam was walked sending Reese home for a 5-0 lead. Braun would help extend the lead to 7-0 with a double-RBI single up the middle.
Following a double play and with two outs and one on, sophomore
Haley Hodges (Portage, Indiana) delivered a two-run homer that would force the game into a five-inning run rule situation.
The Panthers prevented a shutout with a run scored in the bottom of the fifth but it wouldn't be enough to keep the game going until seven.
USI outhit the Panthers, 10-to-five, in game one, with eight of its nine batters letting at least one off.
In the nightcap, the Eagles would take an early 1-0 lead from a leadoff homerun by Dorsam in the opening frame and it would take the Panthers two innings to rally back and tie it up at 1-1.
The final run of the game wouldn't come until late in the top of the seventh, with bases loaded and Dorsam walked, yet again. Drury was close to answering back with a run to tie, having runners on second and third with one out on the board.
Harmening came in to relive junior
Sarah Owens (Indianapolis, Indiana) as the Eagles tallied the needed outs for the win over the Panthers.
Owens (4-1) was awarded the win in game two while, Harmening (11-1) picked up win in the opener along with her second save in the nightcap.
