VALPARAISO, Ind. – Indiana State softball scored two runs in the top of the seventh to break a 1-1 tie and defeat Valpo, 3-2, securing the series victory on Saturday at the Valpo Softball Complex.
 
The Sycamores (28-24, 16-10) got another 10-hit output from their offense to take down Valpo (8-39, 4-22) who notched six hits off the trio of Lauren Sackett, Cassi Newbanks and Hailey Griffin.
 
The Action
Danielle Henning sent a one-out double to left field to set up Annie Tokarek who singled up the middle to put ISU out in front 1-0. Valpo answered back in the bottom of the first, getting a two-out RBI double to tie the game at one.
 
Kaylee Barrett singled in the second and Maeve McDonough and Kennedy Shade singled in the third but the Sycamores were kept off the scoreboard again through three. Lauren Sackett struck out two in the second and got three pop outs in the third to keep the game tied.
 
A Danielle Henning single highlighted the Sycamore fourth while Sackett stranded runners on second and third for another scoreless frame in the bottom half.
 
The Sycamores were quiet in the fifth, bringing the beacons to the plate where they would face Cassi Newbanks who entered in relief. Sackett finished with five strikeouts across four innings while allowing just one run. Newbanks worked a scoreless bottom of the fifth, striking out a batter in the frame.
 
Cassi Newbanks struck out two more in the bottom of the sixth, bringing the Sycamores to the plate in the top of the seventh where they would strike for a pair of runs to retake the lead. Annie Tokarek led the inning off with a single to left and would be pinch ran for by Morgan Goodrich. Goodrich moved to second on a groundout. With one out in the inning Maeve McDonough notched her second hit of the game to give ISU two baserunners. TeAnn Bringle then drove home Goodrich with a single to left to make it 2-1. Hannah Welch then came on to run for Maeve McDonough and would soon score on a Kaylee Barrett single to center, putting the Sycamores up 3-1.
 
The Beacons did not go down easy, making it 3-2 with a RBI double. Hailey Griffin entered to replace Newbanks and hit the first batter she faced. Annie Tokarek picked off a runner at third for the first out of the frame. Griffin then got a fly out and a pop up to escape the jam and secure the win.
 
Newbanks improves to 5-5 on the year and Griffin notches her third save of the season.
 
The Sycamores finished with 10 hits, getting multi-hit outings from Maeve McDonough, Annie Tokarek, Danielle Henning and Kaylee Barrett while Kennedy Shade and TeAnn Bringle had one hit.
 
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