Leonhardt Fans Career-High As Eagles Split Final Day Of Spring Games
LEESBURG, Fla.—Junior pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky) fanned a career-high 16 batters Saturday as University of Southern Indiana Softball split its final day of competition at The Spring Games.
After seeing a 3-0 lead slip away in a 4-3 loss to the California University of Pennsylvania in their opener, the Screaming Eagles rolled to a dominating 6-0 victory over Dominican College (New York) in the nightcap.
USI (12-10) returns to action next Saturday at noon when it opens its home and Great Lakes Valley Conference schedules against McKendree University.
California-Pa. (1-7) 4, USI 3
The Eagles scored three times in the top of the first inning to take a 3-0 lead over the Vulcans. Senior catcher Lindsey Barr (Whitesville, Kentucky) had a solo home run to cap the inning off, while Leonhardt and senior second baseman Claire Johnson (Pittsboro, Indiana) hit back-to-back singles to lead the frame off before scoring on passed balls and wild pitches, respectively.
Cal-PA, however, scored on a two-out error in the last half of the third inning; then capitalized on another error in the fifth inning to score three times and take a 4-3 lead.
The Eagles’ offense came to a grinding halt following the first inning as they were held to just three hits throughout the final six frames.
Senior pitcher Haylee Smith (Florence, Kentucky) was charged with the loss after giving up three unearned runs off three hits in two innings of relief work. Smith (0-1) finished with two strikeouts and no walks in the decision.
USI 6, Dominican (0-2) 0
Senior outfielder Caitlyn Bradley (Forest, Indiana) had a two-run triple to cap off a four-run first inning for the Eagles and USI never looked back as Leonhardt mowed down batter after batter en route to her second straight one-hit, complete-game shutout.
The Eagles had 16 hits in total, including four in the bottom of the first inning and three more in a two-run fourth frame. Barr continued to be a menace to opposing pitchers as she had a two-run single in the fourth frame to put the Eagles up, 6-0.
Leonhardt (8-3), who came within one batter of tossing a no-hitter in USI’s 4-0 win over The University of Findlay Friday, took a perfect game into the top of the sixth inning. A lead-off single, however, broke up the quest for her first-career perfect game, though she still managed to strikeout four the final six batters she faced to complete the shutout.
After recording a pair of strikeouts in an inning of work in USI’s first game of the day, Leonhardt faced just one batter over the minimum in the win in over the Chargers. She struck nine of the first 10 batters she faced before allowing a fly ball to escape the infield.
