LAS VEGAS – Sycamore Softball showed some resiliency on Day Two of the Sportco Kick Off Classic at UNLV on Saturday after coming back for a big 11-4 win over CSU Bakersfield following a heartbreaking 6-5 loss to Louisville in nine innings in the morning.
 
"Our pitchers showed some toughness today in the way they competed," said ISU head coach Shane Bouman. "That second game was a big one after going ahead 2-0, then going down 4-2, and then putting the ball in play and making things happen. Today was us playing Sycamore softball. We've got to shore up our defense. We gave up a lot of untimely runs, but it was a good day. We learned a lot about our team, and we'll go back at it tomorrow with Louisville."
 
Game One (Nine Innings):
Louisville (3-0), 6
Indiana State (1-2), 5
WP: Maryssa Becker (2-0)
LP: Kylie Stober (1-1)
 
It came down to the final play of the game between the Sycamores (1-2) and Cardinals (3-0), with Kassie Brown's laser of a cutoff throw to home plate coming microscopically too late as Louisville won on a walk-off RBI double in the ninth inning.
 
The Sycamores jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the 2016 NCAA Tournament Cardinals, following a two-out, two-RBI single by Brooke Riemenschneider (1-3) in the top of the first that drove in Rylee Holland and Becky Malchow. Louisville responded with one in the bottom half of the first inning and one in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 2-2 – which is where the score remained until extra innings.
 
Much of that had to do with the dominant performance of Louisville starting pitcher Megan Hensley (2-0), who regrouped after that first inning to completely shut down the Sycamores until a walk to Gabi Carter in the top of the seventh broke a streak of 17-straight Sycamores retired.
 
Indiana State responded in kind, though, with a marathon effort out of Minnesota transfer Kylie Stober in relief of starter Kenzie Ihle, who left after 2.1 innings pitched. Stober carried the Sycamores the remaining six-and-a-third innings, holding the Cardinals scoreless and to three more hits the remainder of regulation.
 
In extras, it was Indiana State who struck first. Mary Turitto laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Leslie Sims over to third, who scored on a fielder's choice. ISU extended the lead to 4-2 following an RBI groundout by Holland that scored Kassie Brown (1-3). Louisville, however, forced a ninth inning with a two-run double to tie the game once again in the bottom half.
 
The Sycamores were able to tally one more in the top of the ninth following an Erika Crissman single (1-4) and Malchow scoring on an error by the right fielder, but luck was on Louisville's side in the final frame.
 
Stober looked to be closing the door on the Cardinals, forcing two fast pop-ups to bring Louisville down to their final out. But, Louisville had other ideas with an RBI single by winning pitcher Maryssa Becker to tie the game and then the game-winning RBI double by starting pitcher Megan Hensley to clinch victory.
 
The double was hit to Crissman in left field, who promptly hit her cutoff, Kassie Brown, who delivered a surgical throw to Brooke Mann at the plate for a thrilling finish. It appeared to be a perfect throw and tag, but pinch runner Caitlin Ferguson slid her hand in just before getting tagged for the Louisville win.
 
Game Two:
Indiana State (2-2), 11
CSU Bakersfield (0-3), 4
WP: Kenzie Ihle (1-1)
LP: Lyndsay Klimenko (0-2)
 
Following such a heartbreaking loss, the Sycamores (2-2) bounced back with an offensive showcase in their 11-4 win over CSU Bakersfield (0-3) – much like Day One's sequence of a close, late loss to Virginia Tech (4-3) and then a big, offensive win over UNLV (11-5).
 
Indiana State strung together 10 hits for their 11 runs, with 10 being earned runs. Eight of ISU's nine in the starting lineup had at least one hit, with Leslie Sims (2-3, 1 RBI) and Kassie Brown (2-3, 1 RBI) posting multi-hit games.
 
Two different Sycamores also recorded two-RBI doubles, with Brooke Mann breaking the game open with a deep fly to right field that scored Becky Malchow (1-5) and Brooke Riemenschneider (1-1, 3 BB) to start the game on a 2-0 Sycamore run.
 
CSUB rallied back with a four-run bottom of the second, but Indiana State put the game away with a massive seven-run fifth inning to take a 10-4 lead before sealing it with one more in the seventh. In that fifth inning alone the Sycamores recorded four of their 10 hits, including Shaye Barton's (1-2) two-run double to left field.
 
That fourth inning was the only aberration for a sensational outing by starting pitcher Kenzie Ihle (1-1), who battled back from a short stint against Louisville for a complete game victory against CSUB.
 
Ihle, who went 103-18 in two seasons at Des Moines Area Community College as a First-Team All-American and a member of two NJCAA World Series teams, threw a staggering 136 pitches and struck out three looking.
 
---------------
 
The Sycamores will wrap up their stay in Las Vegas with a rematch against Louisville at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Softball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.