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Southern Indiana 5, Saint Leo 4 (8) | Final Stats
Southern Indiana rallied from a 4-2 deficit in a suspended game and defeated Saint Leo, 5-4, in eight innings to advance to the NCAA Division II Softball championship game.
The game began yesterday morning and Saint Leo jumped out to a 4-0 lead fresh off a win over No. 1 North Alabama. The Lions used a pair of bunts to push runs across.
Southern Indiana pulled one back in the bottom of the first and another in the bottom of the fourth, but the weather halted play after the end of the fifth inning.
On Saturday morning, USI starter Jennifer Leonhardt started quickly as she struck out the side in the sixth. Marleah Fossett hit an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, and then Claire Johnson knocked a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh on her 21st birthday to tie the game at 4-4.
Leonhardt allowed a one-out single in the top of the eighth to Saint Leo, but quickly erased the baserunner with a double play to turn things over to her offense.
USI got a pair of walks and a single to load the bases for Johnson, whose ground ball to short was not fielded cleanly allowing the game-winning run to cross the plate for the Screaming Eagles.
Leonhardt pitched all eight innings giving up four runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. Three of the four hits she gave up came in the first inning of the game.
Johnson was 1-for-4 and scored twice, and Allison Schubert and Mena Fulton each had two hits.
Sarah Pauscher was 2-for-4 with an run and an RBI for Saint Leo. Mounts took the loss giving up three runs on six hits with two strikeouts and five walks.
Saint Anselm 3, Southern Arkansas 0 | Final Stats
Saint Anselm's only three hits in the game came in the third inning and produced the only three runs it would need to defeat Southern Arkansas and move on to the championship game.
The Hawks loaded the bases on an error, a walk and a single to bring up Erin Thompson who hit a single to left to get a run on the board. After a pitching change, Morgan Murrell hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 2-0. Another single from Shannon Colson extended the lead to 3-0 in favor of the Hawks. Reliever Brooke Ford-Nelson was able to get a strikeout and a pop out to end the inning and limit the damage.
The Muleriders had plenty of opportunities on the day getting hte leadoff runner on in every single inning and out-hit Saint Anselm 8-3 in the game. Hawks starter Morgan Perry was able to pitch her way through the potent Southern Arkansas lineup without allowing the Muleriders to string multiple hits together and avoice the big inning stranding all nine baserunners in the game. She completed the shutout giving up eight hits with two strikeouts and a walk.
Marina Duran and Hallie Saintignan each had two hits for SAU. Victoria Taylor took the loss giving up three runs (two earned) on two hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Ford-Nelson pitched five strong innings in relief giving up just one hit with no walks and two strikeouts. Southern Arkansas finished the season with a record of 60-11.