Celebrating her 21st birthday in style, junior second baseman Claire Johnson (Pittsboro, Indiana) hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game and drove in the winning run in the eighth as University of Southern Indiana Softball rallied from a 4-2 deficit to defeat No. 25 Saint Leo University, 5-4, in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Softball Championship Sunday morning.
The Screaming Eagles (39-23) advance to play in the best-of-three national championship series for the first time in program history and are now just two wins away from claiming the first team national championship in the history of women’s athletics at USI.
In a comeback that began Saturday morning, the Eagles roared back from a 4-0 deficit. After spotting the Lions (39-18) four runs in the top of the first frame, USI scored in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI-double by junior outfielder Allison Schubert (Nicholasville, Kentucky).
After back-to-back hits by Schubert and senior third baseman Mena Fulton (Bloomington, Indiana) put runners on base with no outs in the fourth, sophomore shortstop Taylor Ricketts (Georgetown, Kentucky) pushed across the second tally on an RBI-groundout.
Neither team scored a run in the fifth as rain took hold of the Roanoke Valley, forcing the contest to be halted and resumed Sunday.
After sophomore pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky) mowed down the Lions’ lineup in the sixth inning Sunday morning, Fulton led off the last half of the sixth frame by being hit by a pitch.
A passed ball allowed Fulton to move to second base before USI Head Coach Sue Kunkle inserted freshman Alicia Webb(Elberfeld, Indiana) to run for Fulton. The move payed dividends as senior first baseman Marleah Fossett (Brownsburg, Indiana) hit a ball up the middle that scored Webb and got the Eagles to within a single tally.
Leonhardt, who retired 16 consecutive batters at one point between Saturday and Sunday, set the Lions down in order again in the seventh, setting the stage for Johnson’s heroics in the bottom of the inning.
Johnson, who was down in the count, 1-2, drilled the fourth pitch of the at-bat over the leftfield fence to tie the score. The home run was the first long ball hit by USI during the 2018 NCAA II Tournament and was the first in program history at the NCAA II Softball Championship.
After a one-out single broke up Leonhardt’s streak of batters retired in the top of the eighth inning, Johnson began a 4-6-3 double play to get the Eagles out of the frame unscathed.
In the bottom of the eighth, Ricketts drew a one-out walk to get the Eagles going. A base-hit by junior catcher Lindsey Barr(Whitesville, Kentucky) put runners on first and second, while a walk to senior outfielder Olivia Clark-Kittleson (Carbondale, Illinois) loaded the bases for Johnson, who sharply hit a ground ball to the shortstop that was mishandled, allowing Ricketts to score the winning run from third base.
Leonhardt (23-12) earned the win after giving up four runs off four hits in eight innings of work. She struck out eight batters and allowed just one hit in the final seven innings of the game.
USI will play Saint Anselm College (44-11-1) in game one of the national championship series Sunday at 6 p.m. (CDT). The Hawks defeated No. 8 Southern Arkansas University, 3-0, in the “if necessary” game Sunday afternoon to advance.
