Blaine Kinsey
GoSycamores.com
CLEARWATER, Fla.—The Indiana State softball team (9-5) got off to a hot start in the USF-Under Armour Showcase, as they dominated their first two games of the weekend with a 10-1 win over Quinnipiac and 7-1 over Villanova.
"It's good to beat a team from the Big East, there is no doubt about that," head coach Shane Bouman said. "The pitchers threw well, we played good defense, got some key hits, ran the bases aggressively, and thats what we like to do and had a good outcome today."
Game One
In the first game of the day, the Sycamores got on the board early against Quinnipiac in the first inning before blowing the game open in the top of the second.
In the top of the first inning, after a fly out, freshman Kassie Brown singled through the left side and stole second before advancing to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Senior Morgan Allee then walked and stole second and Brown scored on the throw to give the Sycamores a 1-0 lead.
Quinnipiac answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1 but the Sycamores blew the game open in the top of the second.
In the top of the second inning, the Sycamores scored eight runs off four hits with five stolen bases to take a commanding 9-1 lead.
Junior pitcher Yvette Alvarez then allowed just three base runners the rest of the game and the Sycamores tacked on one more run in the top of the fifth. Sophomore Kelsey Montgomery doubled to lead off the top of the fifth before advancing to third on a passed ball. Montgomery then scored on a single to left field off the bat of freshman Rylee Holland.
The Sycamores went on to win the game by a final score of 10-1 in five innings. Montgomery finished the game 2-2 with an RBI and two runs scored with a stolen base. Alvarez pitched a complete game, five innings, allowing just three hits and one run.
Game Two
Just as they have in the previous nine games, the Indiana State softball team scored first in the top of the first inning against Villanova and never looked back, behind a solid pitching effort from sophomore Taylor Lockwood.
After a groundout, Brown doubled to left center and then scored on a single down the right field line by Allee, who advanced to second on the throw. Allee then stole third before senior Shelby Wilson walked to put runners on the corners. On a double steal, Allee scored to give the Sycamroes a 2-0 advantage.
The Sycamores struck again in the top of the third when freshman Erika Crissman singled up the middle before Brown singled to the short stop. Crissman also advanced to third on a throwing error by the short stop and Brown stole second to put runners at second and third. Wilson then singled through the right side to score both Crissman and Brown and give the Sycamores a 4-0 lead.
Again in the top of the fourth inning, freshman Rylee Holland reached on an error and advanced to third on a single by Montgomery before scoring on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Crissman to make it 5-0.
Lockwood retired the first 10 batters she faced, in order, carrying a perfect game into the bottom of the fourth before allowing a bunt single.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Sycamores tacked on two more runs to extend their lead to 7-1 over the Wildcats.
With two outs in the bottom of the 7th, Villanova collected a solo home run and single before a groundout ended the game to give the Sycamores their second win of the day, this one in the form of a 7-1 victory.
Brown was 2-2 with two runs scored and a stolen base while Montgomery was also 2-2 with a stolen base. Lockwood pitched the complete game, seven innings, with just three hits allowed and six strikeouts.
On the day, the Sycamores stole 14 bases and allowed just six hits.
The Sycamores will return to action Saturday when they take on St. John's at 11:15 a.m.
