USI softball sweeps Rockhurst to open GLVC play
USI Sports Information
Southern Indiana (6-2, 2-0 GLVC): 8, 4
at Rockhurst (2-9, 0-2 GLVC): 0, 2
Box Scores: Game 1 (5 innings) | Game 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The University of Southern Indiana softball team racked up 20 hits and got a pair of strong pitching performances as it swept host Rockhurst University, 8-0 and 4-2, to begin Great Lakes Valley Conference play Thursday afternoon. USI won the opener in five innings due to the eight-run rule.
USI’s offense cranked four balls over the fence in game one, giving freshman hurler Brooke Harmening more than enough run support to earn her team-best fifth win of the year.
Junior shortstop Stephanie Bittner, who was 2-for-2 in game one with a pair of RBIs, began the offensive onslaught by hitting a two-out, solo home run over the centerfield fence to give the Screaming Eagles a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
The Eagles (6-2, 2-0 GLVC) broke the game open in the second inning as they sent nine batters to the plate and scored five times to increase their advantage to 6-0. Sophomore catcher Lauren Hatfield, who hit her first career collegiate home run in USI’s 5-1 win over McKendree University Tuesday, began the inning with a solo shot over the leftfield fence.
Following an RBI-double by freshman second baseman Kara Werner and an RBI-single by Bittner, senior third baseman/designated player Kristen O’Haver hit a two-run blast over the leftfield fence to complete USI’s second-inning outburst.
O’Haver, who has three home runs and six RBIs in the last four games, hit a two-run home run over the leftfield fence in the fourth inning to give the Eagles a comfortable 8-0 lead.
Harmening (5-1), meanwhile, took a perfect game into the bottom of the fifth inning, but a one-out double by Rockhurst first baseman Kayla Thomas broke up the bid. Harmening, who recorded six strikeouts, retired the next two batters she faced as she compiled her first-career complete-game shutout.
In game two, Rockhurst (2-9, 0-2 GLVC) capitalized on a lead-off single and a two-out double in the bottom of the first inning to build a 1-0 lead.
USI, however, got an RBI-single from Werner and took advantage of an error in the third inning to erase the deficit and go up 2-1 heading into the last half of the third frame.
The Hawks tied the game with a tally in the bottom of the third inning, but USI answered with an RBI-single by sophomore centerfield Teri Newmaster in the top of the fourth to take a 3-2 edge. Junior rightfielder Katherine Belsito added to USI’s lead in the fifth with a sacrifice fly, giving sophomore hurler Madeline Brink enough support to pick up her first win of the year.
Brink (1-1), who entered the pitcher’s circle in the bottom of the third inning, blanked the Hawks through four-and-two-thirds innings of work, allowing just two hits while striking out two batters.
Rockhurst threatened in the seventh inning with a lead-off triple, but a diving stab by sophomore third baseman Alison Nord prevented a run from scoring and got the Eagles’ the second out of the frame.
USI returns to action Friday at 1 p.m. when it travels to Liberty, Missouri, to take on GLVC newcomer William Jewell College in a doubleheader. The Eagles begin the Division II Rebel Spring Games Sunday in Kissimmee, Florida.