The University of Indianapolis softball teams doubleheader against Lewis University on March 29 was cancelled due to rain, and will be rescheduled.
UIndy competed at Baumgartner Field on March 25 against Ohio Dominican University in a doubleheader, during which they secured two more wins in their home opener. Previously, the Greyhounds traveled to Rockhurst University and William Jewell College to compete in doubleheaders against each team. UIndy’s only loss came in the second game against William Jewell.
The Greyhounds home opener ended with scores of 7-2 and 4-3. In the first game, junior Morgan Foley got the pitching win for the Hounds, throwing 5.0 innings, tallying seven strikeouts, and allowing three hits. Fellow junior pitcher Coryn Tirpak relieved Foley in the first game with two innings remaining allowing one hit. In the first game, the Greyhounds had seven runs on 13 hits. In the batter’s box, sophomore utility Natalie Lalich hit a two-run homerun in her first trip to the plate during the first game, and hit her fifth homerun of the year in the second inning of the second game.
The second game’s pitching duties were split between freshman Samantha Hogan, Tirpak and Foley. Combined the three struck out three and gave up eight hits. At the plate Lalich excelled for the Hounds again going 3-for-3.
The team’s success comes from moving on and doing its best to control the situation at hand, according to Head Softball Coach Melissa Frost.
“Controlling what we can control and pushing ahead is how we will succeed,” Frost said.
While facing Rockhurst, UIndy secured two additional significant wins of 5-1 and 5-3. During the doubleheader, senior outfielder Erika Goodwin went 4-for-7 at the plate, and senior outfielder Casey Williamson went 3-for-7. Foley picked up the pitching duties in the first game throwing seven straight innings and striking out 10 of the Hawks batters in seven innings. Tirpak threw five innings the second game earning herself a win, and then was relieved by Foley. With the two wins, the Greyhounds ended the Hawks’ six-game winning streak.
“Rockhurst had won six games in a row and beat[en] good teams in our conference,” Frost said. “The games against Rockhurst were must win games. We now have an upper hand because of those wins against Rockhurst,” Williamson said.
Frost agreed with Williamson about the importance of the two Rockhurst wins.
“This win was huge because Rockhurst played a very good team last weekend, and anytime you can pick up conference wins it’s good for the region. Any win is a big win,” Frost said.
Earlier in the week the Greyhounds split their doubleheader with William Jewell after an eight inning 7-5 win and a 5-4 loss. Throughout the two games, Williamson said that one particular challenge stood out for the Greyhounds.
“We need to keep our energy levels up throughout the entire game. We will score runs but fall off a little bit, and then the other team will score. We need to refill our energy and keep winning,” Williamson said.
During game one senior utility Taylor Russell came through with three hits on five at bats to bring in three of the Greyhounds seven runs. Throughout game two sophomore infielder Katie Kelly went 2-for-3 and brought in two runs.
The team moves forward with this in mind, as its next game will be April 3 at Bellarmine University. Action between the Greyhounds and Knights is set to begin at 3 p.m., with the second game scheduled to follow immediately after.
