Blaine Kinsey
GoSycamores.com
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa—The Indiana State softball team (14-30, 3-15 MVC) broke its third school record of the season, this time double plays turned, in a doubleheader loss on the road to the Panthers of Northern Iowa 18-21, 8-6 MVC). Both games were moved indoors into the UNI Dome due to cold temperatures.
"We had chances to come out on the other end in both games today," assistant coach Amanda Zust said. "When we catch the ball, get a key hit, and pitch aggressively, we have a lot more chances to come out on top. I thought we competed well today and am excited to see what we bring tomorrow."
Game One:
Despite holding an early lead in game one of the doubleheader, the Sycamores fell by a final score of 9-4 in game one thanks to a late Panthers rally.
Junior Morgan Allee led off the game with an inside the park home run on a ball hit down the right field line to give the Sycamores an early 1-0 lead.
The Sycamores then extended their lead in the top of the second when senior Alex Lucas led off the inning with a single followed by a walk by freshman Abbie Malchow and both runners advanced one base on a wild pitch.
Two batters later, sophomore Ashley Dickerson scored Lucas on a bunt single followed by an RBI single off the bat of freshman Kelsey Montgomery to score Malchow and make it 3-0. Allee then kept the inning going with an RBI single to score Dickerson and give ISU a 4-0 lead after 1.5 innings of play.
The Panthers offense began to wake up, however, scoring on run in both the bottom of the second and third to cut the Sycamore lead to 4-2. The Panthers then tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning off two doubles.
Northern Iowa broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth scoring five runs off six hits and a Sycamore dropped fly ball to take a 9-4 lead over the Sycamores heading into the seventh.
The Sycamores could not battle back and fell by a final score of 9-4.
In the third inning, with Dickerson pitching, UNI hit a line shot back to Dickerson who turned and threw to junior Shelby Wilson for a 1-5 double play, the 19th of the season for the Sycamores and new single season record.
Allee with 2-4 with two RBI's and a run scored with an inside the park home run while Lucas was 2-3 with a run scored for the Sycamores.
Game Two:
In the second game of the doubleheader the Panthers struck early and the Sycamores were unable to gain an edge as they fell by a final score of 4-1.
The Panthers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over Indiana State in the bottom of the first inning off two hits and a Sycamore fielding error.
In the top of the fourth inning, Montgomery hit a one out single and advanced to third on a single by Wilson to put runners at the corners. Sophomore Megan Stone then put the Sycamores on the board with an RBI single to score Montgomery and cut the UNI lead to 2-1.
The Panthers came back in the bottom of the sixth, however, scoring two runs off two hits to extend their lead to 4-1 over the Sycamores, one ISU was unable to overcome as they fell in the second game.
Stone finished the game 1-3 with an RBI while freshman Halle Humphrey pitched a complete game allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out five.
The Sycamores and Panthers will play the finale of the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Inside the UNI Dome.
