University of Southern Indiana Softball racked up 10 hits and scored in all four of its offensive innings as it rolled to a 9-0, five-inning win over Hillsdale College in the second round of the NCAA Division II Midwest Region #1 Tournament.
The Screaming Eagles (33-22), winners of six straight games, began the onslaught by loading the bases in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, senior first baseman Marleah Fossett (Brownsburg, Indiana) was hit by a pitch to push across the first tally.
USI, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, got a two-run single from sophomore outfielder Allison Schubert (Nicholasville, Kentucky) in the second frame to extend its lead to 3-0; while a two-run double from sophomore pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky) gave the Eagles a commanding 5-0 cushion in the third stanza.
The Eagles sent nine batters to the plate in their four-run fourth inning as junior catcher Lindsey Barr (Whitesville, Kentucky) produced an RBI-double before a bases-loaded walk gave junior second baseman Claire Johnson (Pittsboro, Kentucky) an RBI.
Leonhardt’s two-run single capped off the scoring as USI took a 9-0 lead into the fifth frame. Leonhardt (19-11), who was 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs, allowed just three hits to pick up her fifth complete-game shutout of the year. She had five strikeouts and issued just two walks.
USI returns to action Sunday at 10 a.m. (CDT) when it takes on the winner of the elimination bracket game between No. 9 Grand Valley State University and Hillsdale (25-15). Grand Valley State, the top seed, knocked out the No. 4 seed, University of Indianapolis, with a 5-0 win in the elimination bracket.
Hillsdale, the No. 8 seed, defeated the Lakers (41-8), 1-0, to Thursday to begin the regional. The winner of the Grand Valley State-Hillsdale contest will have to win twice on Sunday, while the Eagles are just one win away from their second straight trip to Super Regionals.
