LOUISVILLE – It took 29 innings in four games against Louisville, but the Sycamores finally came out on top in yet another close dogfight in an 8-6 extra-inning victory over the Cardinals in ISU's Red & Black Tournament finale on Sunday afternoon.
 
Indiana State (8-6) kept battling back in what turned out to be another tug-of-war with Louisville (12-7), but a three-run eighth inning and a shutdown performance by Della Gher (1-0) in the final frame pushed the Sycamores to victory.
 
"We knew coming in that the game was going to be a close one, that we were going to have to fight every pitch every inning until the end," said senior Mary Turitto.
 
Louisville jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, led off by a solo home run by the red-hot Nicole Pufahl (went 4-for-4 with seven RBI in the first matchup of the tournament). The Sycamores responded, though, with four unanswered over the next three innings to build some momentum.
 
In the top of the third, Mary Turitto (1-3) and Bailey Martin (1-3, SAC) led off with singles and both advanced on wild pitches, and then scored consecutively on an error by the second baseman off the bat of Rylee Holland (1-3, SAC) and the first of two RBI singles by freshman Becky Malchow (3-5, 2B, 2 RBI).
 
In the top of the fifth, the Sycamores tacked on two more to take their first lead of the game at 4-3. Malchow reached first on a dropped third strike to lead off the inning, and was advanced to second on an infield single by senior Erika Crissman (2-4). A Brooke Mann sac bunt pushed them into scoring position in time for another UL error on a Shaye Barton (1-2, 2 RBI) sacrifice attempt. An RBI pinch hit single by senior Brooke Riemenschneider brought in Crissman from third to give ISU the lead.
 
Louisville responded in kind with an RBI sac fly and an RBI triple in the top half of the sixth to take a 5-4 lead, but a Shaye Barton bases-loaded RBI single tied the game in the bottom of the seventh to send it into extras.
 
Indiana State wasted no time in the top of the eighth, with Malchow knocking in Kassie Brown (the runner placed on second to start the inning) with her second RBI single of the day. ISU padded its lead by scoring two on a third Louisville error off the bat of Brooke Mann to give relief pitcher Della Gher an 8-5 lead heading into the bottom half.
 
Gher, a true freshman, who only had 3.1 innings of work entering today, yielded only two hits in 2.1 innings of relief to close out ISU's win for her first career victory. She allowed another RBI single to Pufahl in the bottom of the eighth to make the game 8-6, but then promptly retired three straight to end the game.
 
"We focused on what we are good at and what we can control," said senior Rylee Holland. "We found a way to get runners on and move the ball to score runs, and that's what we do. Solid pitching and eight errorless innings of defense equals a good win."
 
Indiana State finishes the weekend ahead at 3-2, pushing its overall record to 8-6 on the season with one final, long tournament of non-conference action left at South Florida's USF Tournament from March 10-15. This is the best start to a season for the Sycamores since 2014, when ISU went 9-5 in its first 14 games played.
 
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.