University of Southern Indiana Softball settled for a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader split with visiting Truman State University Sunday afternoon on Senior Day. The No. 5 Screaming Eagles earned a 9-5 win over the Bulldogs in the opener before falling, 7-3, in the nightcap.

Following the games, USI honored its senior class of outfielder Grace Clark (Indianapolis, Indiana), infielder Sadie Foster (Plainfield, Indiana), catcher Haley Hodges(Portage, Indiana), outfielder Alisha Ludwig (Terre Haute, Indiana) and shortstop Lexi Reese (Lebanon, Indiana) as part of its Senior Day Festivities.

USI (39-9, 18-6 GLVC) concludes its 2017 regular-season home schedule Monday at 11 a.m. when it hosts Quincy University for Awareness Day. The Hawks (15-25, 7-17 GLVC) lost both ends of a GLVC twin bill to host Bellarmine University Sunday in Louisville, Kentucky.

Game 1 | Southern Indiana 9, Truman State 5

–Box Score

Senior shortstop Lexi Reese (Lebanon, Indiana) went 3-of-5 with a home run, double and career-high five RBIs as the Eagles won a wild game one.

Reese opened the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead; then had an RBI-single in a three-run second inning that lifted USI to a 4-0 advantage.

Truman (32-18, 15-9 GLVC) got a lead-off home run from senior catcher Lex Van Nostrand in the top of the fourth inning to get on the scoreboard; then tacked on two more tallies to trim USI’s advantage to one run.

Reese’s three-run double in the Eagles’ five-run fifth inning gave USI a 7-3 advantage, while an RBI-double by junior first baseman Marleah Fossett (Brownsburg, Indiana) put USI up, 8-3. Senior outfielder Grace Clark (Indianapolis, Indiana) drove in the Eagles’ fifth run of the inning as USI built an insurmountable six-run edge.

The Bulldogs, however, made a late charge in the top of the seventh inning as a two-run home run by freshman third baseman Alyssa Rivera trimmed USI’s lead to four runs. Back-to-back singles following the home run chased USI freshman pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky) out of the game.

Sophomore pitcher/outfielder Caitlyn Bradley (Forest, Indiana), however, came into the contest to get back-to-back outs to preserve USI’s win. Leonhardt (23-1) earned her 20^th straight win after giving up five runs off nine hits in 6.1 innings of work, while Bradley racked up her team-best third save of the year.

Game 2 | Truman State 7, Southern Indiana 3

–Box Score

Truman scored six unanswered runs to turn a 3-1 deficit into 7-3 victory over USI in the nightcap.

USI, which saw an eight-game winning streak end with the loss, scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-1 lead. The Eagles scored their first tally on a wild pitch, while Clark had an RBI-single to give USI the one-run cushion.

The Eagles tacked on another tally in the third inning to extend their lead to 3-1; but the Bulldogs got a solo home run from sophomore designated player Morgan McMahan in the fourth frame and a two-out, RBI-single from Rivera in the fifth to tie the contest at 3-3.

Another two-out single in the sixth inning off the bat of junior outfielder Riley Cook gave the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead; then a three-run seventh frame staked Truman to a commanding four-run advantage.

USI got back-to-back hits to lead off the last half of the seventh inning, but a hard-luck double-play ball took momentum out of the Eagles’ charge as they could not overcome the deficit.

Bradley (6-3) was charged with the loss after giving up five runs, four earned, off 10 hits in seven innings of work. Sophomore pitcher Courtney Atkisson (Bringhurst, Indiana) relieved Bradley for a brief moment in the seventh inning but was tagged for two runs off three hits before giving the ball back to Bradley to finish the frame.

Southern Indiana 9, Truman State 5 (Apr 23, 2017 at Evansville, IN) (Game 1)

———————————————————————-

Truman State…….. 000 300 2 -  5  9  2      (31-18, 14-9 GLVC)

Southern Indiana…. 130 050 X -  9 13  0      (39-8, 18-5 GLVC)

———————————————————————-

Pitchers: Truman State – Simpson, Nicolette; Hajduk, Alyssa(2) and Van Nostrand, Lex.

Southern Indiana – Leonhardt, Jennifer; Bradley, Caitlyn(7) and Hodges, Haley.

Win-Leonhardt, Jennifer(23-1)  Save-Bradley, Caitlyn(3)  Loss-Simpson, Nicolette(13-6)  T-2:05  A-334

HR TSU – Rivera, Alyssa (7); Van Nostrand, Lex (10).

HR USI – Reese, Lexi (4).

Weather: Partly cloudy, windy

Game: 47-TSU

Truman State 7, Southern Indiana 3 (Apr 23, 2017 at Evansville, IN) (Game 2)

———————————————————————-

Truman State…….. 100 111 3 -  7 13  1      (32-18, 15-9 GLVC)

Southern Indiana…. 201 000 0 -  3  5  3      (39-9, 18-6 GLVC)

———————————————————————-

Pitchers: Truman State – Dale, Lauren and Van Nostrand, Lex. Southern Indiana –

Bradley, Caitlyn; Atkisson,Courtney(8) and Hodges, Haley.

Win-Dale, Lauren(15-6)  Loss-Bradley, Caitlyn(6-3)  T-1:36  A-334

HR TSU – McMahan, Morgan (2).

Weather: 60s, sunny

Atkisson, C. faced 3 batters in the 7th.

Game: 48-TSU

Trailing 2-0 entering the sixth inning, the University of Evansville softball team rallied for four runs in that frame on their way to a 4-2 victory over Indiana State on Sunday afternoon at Cooper Stadium.

“This was huge for us to find a way to get the win.  Our bats have been a little quiet this weekend and I feel like we were pressing just a little bit,” Purple Aces head coach Mat Mundell said.  “When Deja came to the plate and got that hit, it really gave us some life.  Morgan’s home run was obviously huge too, she has evolved a real clutch hitter for us.”

Evansville (20-26, 11-9 MVC) registered two hits on the day, but they came at the biggest time.  Indiana State (20-25, 5-15 MVC) picked up nine hits while Kenzie Ihle heled UE hitless through five innings.

The top of the third inning featured great defense by the Purple Aces.  After the Sycamores put a runner on third with one out, Morgan Florey connected with Hayli Scott for the out at the plate.  After the next ISU batter singled to shallow center, Michal Luckett threw out another Sycamore runner at home to end the inning.

Indiana State threatened in each inning and finally came through in the fourth as Gabi Carter laced a 2-run single to center field for the first scoring of the contest.

Evansville was held hitless until the bottom of the 6^th inning when Deja Shelton doubled to left field to lead off the inning.  She advanced to third on a Brittany Hay sacrifice before coming home on a sac fly by Florey.

Two hit batters put a pair of runners on for Morgan Lambert, who responded with her 7^th home run of the year, a 3-run shot, to give UE a 4-2 lead.  That proved to be the difference as Florey finished it off in the top of the seventh for UE.

A trip to Carbondale, Ill. awaits UE on Tuesday as they finish their season series with Southern Illinois.  The final home games of the year are on tap next weekend as the Aces welcome Illinois State.

In a battle to the finish, the University of Evansville women’s tennis team picked up an impressive 4-3 victory over Drake on Saturday.

“This was a real nail-biter! We needed 1 win out of the last three courts still playing and it came down to our last chance at #4 singles,” Aces head coach Jayson Wiseman said.  “Even as she watched Andjela lose a heartbreaker in three sets right next to her at #6 singles, and heard the Drake fans cheering wildly when they tied it up with a win at #1, Dasha kept her composure and calmly served out her match to clinch the win.”

“Despite the fact that 5 of the 6 singles matches were straight set affairs, that doesn’t really reflect how tight and how close this match was,” he continued.  “Coach Tran had her team ready to defend their home turf and we were fortunate to escape with a victory. We were able to answer their intensity early to take the doubles point and then do just enough to get the win, sometimes it’s not pretty and it’s a grind, but we will definitely take it! “

After taking the doubles point, UE clinched the win with three singles triumphs.  In doubles, Diana Tkachenko and Nicoli Pereira picked up a 6-2 win in the second flight while Andjela Brguljan and Daria Pentsova earned a 6-3 victory in flight #3.

Tkachenko was also victorious in singles, defeating Tess Herder, 6-3, 6-4, in the second flight.  Daria Pentsova defeated Kenya Williams, 7-5, 6-3, in the fourth slot while Theodora Soldatou won in the fifth flight, 6-4, 5-2, over Alex Kozlowski.

Tomorrow, UE faces UNI in Cedar Falls at 10 a.m.

Indiana State picked up a pair of victories against the University of Evansville softball team in a Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader on Saturday at Cooper Stadium.

In game one, the Sycamores (20-24, 5-14 MVC) held on for a 1-0 win before defeating Evansville (19-26, 10-9 MVC) by a 9-0 score in game two.

Following four scoreless innings, Indiana State pushed the first run of game one across in the top of the fifth.  That is when a single by Rylee Holland scored Kassie Brown.  In the circle, Kenzie Ihle got the job done for the Sycamores as she struck out eight UE batters in the first three innings

In the bottom of the fifth, UE got two runners on for the first time in the game with one out, but Ihle got out of the jam to keep the Aces off the board.  She was able to hold UE scoreless from there as ISU took a 1-0 win.  Evansville was held to just four hits, two coming off the bat of Ashlee Kawall.  Morgan Florey went all seven innings, allowing one run on three hits.

After a defensive battle in game one, four Sycamore runs crossed the plate in the first inning of the second contest.  Highlighting the inning was a 2-run double by Shaye Barton.  ISU added its fifth run on a sacrifice fly in the second frame.

They were able to add four more in the fifth to clinch the 9-0 triumph.  Mary Turitto finished with three RBI in the game for ISU while UE was limited to two hits as Brittany Hay and Hayli Scott each had a knock.

In between games, the 2002 MVC Championships squad was recognized as part of Alumni Day festivities.  Earlier in the day, Beth Csukas was honored with the MVC Most Courageous Award.

Tomorrow, the series finale will take place at 11 a.m. inside Cooper Stadium.