USI Softball splits opening day

ALBERTVILLE, Ala.–University of Southern Indiana Softball scored six times in the top of the eighth inning to earn a 9-3 victory over Carson-Newman University and salvage a split on the opening day of the UAH Charger Chillout Friday afternoon.
 
The Screaming Eagles (1-1) suffered a 2-1 setback against Delta State University in their season-opener earlier in the day.
 
Delta State (2-2) 2, Southern Indiana 1 (Box Score)
Stranding runners at second and third base in both the fourth and sixth innings proved costly for the Eagles, who gave up a tally in the last half of the sixth frame in a 2-1 setback to Delta State in their opener.
 
USI answered a Delta State run in the fourth inning when senior pitcher/designated player Katie Back (Indianapolis, Indiana) drove in a run with a bases-loaded ground-out. The Eagles, however, were unable to get anything else across the plate as the game remained in a 1-1 stalemate heading into the fifth inning.
 
Junior pitcher/designated player Allie Goodin (Evansville, Indiana) scattered four hits and a run throughout five innings before being pulled for Back in the sixth.
 
A lead-off walk in the sixth inning proved to be the difference maker as Delta State scored the go-ahead run before retiring the Eagles in order in the top of the seventh for the 2-1 win.
 
Back was charged with the loss after giving up the go-ahead run. She did not allow a hit in her one inning of work. Goodin gave up one run off four hits and had six strikeouts in seven innings of work.
 
Southern Indiana 9, Carson-Newman 3 (8 inn.) (Box Score)
USI took advantage of the international tie-breaker rule and a pair of errors in the top half of the eighth inning to score six times en route to the 9-3 win over Carson-Newman.
 
Carson-Newman (5-2) got a pair of two-out runs in the home half of the seventh to tie the game and force extra frames.
 
Senior third baseman Mary Bean (Schaumburg, Illinois) put the Eagles on top for good with a one-out, RBI-double in the eighth inning. Senior outfielder Mikaela Domico (Naperville, Illinois) extended the Eagles’ lead in the next at-bat as she drove in another run and reached base via an error.
 
Sophomore outfielder Makenzie Bedrick (Brownsburg, Indiana) pushed across another run thanks to a throwing error, while freshman outfielder Kennedy Nalley(Huntingburg, Indiana) gave USI an 8-3 cushion with a two-run double.
 
Junior second baseman Rachel Martinez (Chicago, Illinois) capped off USI’s scoring with an RBI-double.
 
Martinez’s RBI-double in the third inning put USI up, 1-0. Junior shortstop Jordan Rager (Fishers, Indiana) followed with an RBI-single to give USI a two-run cushion.
 
Carson-Newman answered in the fourth with a lead-off home run, but a two-out, run-scoring single in the seventh gave USI a 3-1 lead.
 
Freshman pitcher Hailey Gotshall (Lucerne, Indiana) was credited with the win after giving up an unearned run off two hits in two innings of work. Gotshall (1-0) pitched a perfect eighth inning to secure the victory.
 
USI got six strong innings from freshman pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana), who gave up two runs, one earned, off seven hits in six-plus innings of work. Newman, who was pulled in the seventh after giving up back-to-back hits lead the frame off, recorded six strikeouts in her first career appearance.