ST. LOUIS—University of Southern Indiana Softball suffered a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader sweep at the hands of host University of Missouri-St. Louis in a rematch of last year's GLVC Tournament championship.
The Screaming Eagles (16-12, 4-2 GLVC) lost a 3-2 heartbreaker in the opener before a rough first and fifth inning pinned a 10-2, five-inning setback on USI in the nightcap.
USI returns to action Saturday at noon when it visits Maryville University in a GLVC twinbill in St. Louis, Missouri.
Game 1: UMSL 3, USI 2
Junior outfielder
Allison Schubert (Nicholasville, Kentucky) hit a pair of solo home runs, including a game-tying shot in the top of the seventh inning, but a one-out, walk-off ground ball by UMSL lead-off hitter Morgan Hill gave the Tritons the one-run win.
Schubert's home run in the fifth inning broke a scoreless tie to give the Eagles and junior pitcher
Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky) the 1-0 lead.
Leonhardt, however, surrendered a two-run home run in the last half of the sixth inning, breaking a scoreless streak of 35.1 innings for the USI All-American, as the Tritons jumped out to a 2-1 lead.
A lead-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning, followed by an error on a sacrifice bunt, put the Tritons in position to win the game. Leonhardt got a strikeout, one of 11 on the day, for the first out; but the ground ball in the next at bat scored the runner from third base to end the game.
Leonhardt (10-4) took the loss after giving up three runs, two earned, off four hits in 6.1 innings of work. She issued three walks—breaking a streak of 35 consecutive innings without issuing a free pass—including a lead-off walk in the Tritons' two-run sixth frame.
Game 2 (5 inn.): UMSL 10, USI 2
Senior second baseman
Claire Johnson (Pittsboro, Indiana) led the game off with a solo home run as USI jumped out to a 1-0 lead.
Missouri-St. Louis (14-14, 3-3 GLVC), however, scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning to steal momentum from the Eagles. The Tritons took advantage of a pair of USI errors as all six runs were unearned.
The Tritons added another run in the second inning to go up, 7-1, while an RBI-groundout by Leonhardt in the fifth inning reduced Missouri-St. Louis' s lead to five runs.
USI, however, surrendered three runs off six hits in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Tritons earned the run-rule victory.
Bradley (4-4) was charged with the loss after giving up six runs, all unearned, off four hits in two-thirds inning of work.
