The Screaming Eagles (28-14, 14-4 GLVC) won the opener, 6-0, but the Panthers prevailed in the nightcap, 3-2, in 10 innings.
Game 1
The Eagles erupted for five runs in the bottom of the first inning as they cruised to the game-one victory. Sophomore outfielder Alicia Webb (Elberfeld, Indiana) began the scoring with a two-run triple, while senior catcher Lindsey Barr (Whitesville, Kentucky) hit a towering three-run home run over the leftfield fence to give USI the commanding five-run cushion.
Leonhardt tied and surpassed Brooke Harmening‘s former school record for strikeouts (642) when she struck out the side in the fourth inning.
Senior outfielder/pitcher Caitlyn Bradley (Forest, Indiana) padded the Eagles’ lead in the sixth inning with an RBI-single.
Leonhardt (17-5) earned the win after tossing her her 10th complete-game shutout of the season. She struck out 11 batters and surrendered just three hits in the win, moving to within two wins of Harmening’s school-record 74.
Game 2
USI used a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game at 2-2, but Drury used a two-out double and a two-out single to push across the eventual winning run in the 10th inning to earn the victory.
The Eagles capitalized on an error in the third inning as Bradley drove in the first tally of the game with an RBI-single.
Drury (28-13, 9-7 GLVC), however, scored a run in the fourth and another in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead.
With two outs and nobody on in the last part of the seventh, junior outfielder Allison Schubert (Nicholasville, Kentucky) hit a single to get the rally started. Senior second baseman Claire Johnson (Pittsboro, Indiana) followed with a walk to put the tying run in scoring position, while Leonhardt roped an RBI-single into the gap in right-centerfield.
Leonhardt came on in the ninth to get the Eagles out of a jam, but a two-out double that nearly cleared the fence followed by an RBI-single in the next at-bat put USI into a 3-2 deficit.
Bradley led the 10th inning off with a single and moved into scoring position after a sacrifice bunt. She moved to third in the next at-bat, but a pop-up in the final at-bat secured the win for the Panthers and snapped USI’s nine-game winning streak.
Leonhardt was charged with the loss after giving up one run off two hits in two innings of work. She had two strikeouts, running her school-record career total to 647.
