Eagles go 2-0 on Sunday at The Spring Games

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – In its second day of competition at The Spring Games in Florida, University of Southern Indiana Softball swept its two games on Sunday with a 7-6 walk-off win against Monmouth University and a 3-0 shutout victory against Sacred Heart University.
 
Kicking off the day against Monmouth (5-15), USI (5-9) took advantage of early opportunities in the bottom of the first inning. With the bases loaded, the Screaming Eagles earned back-to-back RBI walks before a sac fly to take a 3-0 lead. Southern Indiana added two more runs in the next inning on a two-run home run by freshman Alyssa Mumaw (Greenfield, Indiana), her first of the season.
 
The Screaming Eagles led 6-0 going into the fifth inning, but Monmouth mounted a comeback. After a two-RBI single and defensive miscues by USI, Monmouth scored six in the fifth to knot the game back all square.
 
The contest remained tied through seven innings, leading to extra innings. In the bottom of the eighth and with an international tiebreaker runner at second base, junior second baseman Hailey Gotshall (Lucerne, Indiana) delivered her second walk-off hit this season with an RBI double to give USI the win.
 
Southern Indiana totaled seven runs on eight hits. Mumaw went 2-4 with two runs and two RBIs for USI. Gotshall also finished with two RBIs. In the circle, junior pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) made the start, going four scoreless innings with eight strikeouts toward a no-decision. Junior pitcher Whitley Hunter (Nashville, Illinois) tossed the last 3.1 innings scoreless with two strikeouts to earn her first win this season.
 
Monmouth scored six runs off four hits. Freshman pitcher Olivia Lewis was dealt her fourth loss of the season, giving up two runs – one earned – in the last five innings of work.
 
In the second game against Sacred Heart (4-7), Southern Indiana jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the top of the second inning on an RBI groundout and an RBI single. USI tacked on another run in the fifth inning with a two-out RBI knock from senior first baseman Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana).
 
The Screaming Eagles tallied three runs on seven hits, as freshman infielder Sydney Long (Haubstadt, Indiana) and junior outfielder Kennedy Nalley (Huntingburg, Indiana) recorded an RBI along with Fair.
 
Meanwhile, the right-handed pitcher Newman took the ball again for USI and was dominant. Newman struck out two batters in each frame before striking out the side in the seventh to end the game. The junior fanned 15 batters total, two off her career best, in a three-hit shutout. Newman’s season record moved to 5-4.
 
Sacred Heart’s sophomore starter Emily Heath dropped to 1-3 this season after a complete-game effort, surrendering three runs off seven hits and three walks.