Softball opens Louisville Tournament with two wins

By Dalton Ray–

Kicking off their final tournament of the season, softball (14-7) downed Ohio in extra innings and blew past IUPUI.

Ohio (13-5), 2-1

Stat leaders:

Redshirt junior Nicole Pufahl went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Freshman Caitlin Ferguson batted 2-for-4 including the game-winning RBI.
Senior Maryssa Becker (9-4) pitched all eight innings, notching nine strikeouts and recorded a double at the plate.

Rundown:

In the first inning, Ohio’s Alex Day scored on a fielding error.

One inning later, Pufahl’s single turned into a triple by a fielding error. Junior Allison Szdlowsk’s sac-fly brought home Pufahl.

In the bottom of the fourth, Becker’s double put runners on second and third. The Bobcats responded by recording three straight outs.

Tied at 1-1, Louisville left another pair of runners on in the bottom of the sixth.

Heading into extra innings, Becker struck out the first two in the top of the eighth.

In the bottom of the inning, Ferguson lined a grounder up the middle, bringing home sophomore Lillie Goetz to win the game.

IUPUI (5-16), 7-2

State leaders:

Senior Tiarra Sanabria batted 3-for-3 with two RBIs.
Pufahl scored two runs and adds a RBI.
Becker (10-4) threw 64 pitches, forcing 11 groundouts and four strikeouts.

Rundown:

Atop of the second inning, IUPUI’s Roni Patterson blasted a homer on freshman Sydeny Warriner’s second pitch of the inning. Two pitches later, Maggie Armstrong’s shot nearly left the infield but died off just shy. Becker replaced Warriner and got out of the jam, leaving two Jaguars on base.

Jumping to the bottom of the third, Louisville scored five runs off RBIs from Pufahl, Sanabria and juniors Jenna Jordan and Jamie Soles.

The Jaguars only recorded one hit over the next two innings as Becker started to dominate.

In the bottom of the fifth, Sanabria and Soles recorded their second RBIs to push the lead to 7-1.

IUPUI loaded the bases in the seventh and recorded a run before Becker struck out the final batter.