ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood Softball team (6-10, 0-0 OVC) wrapped up day two of their home tournament with a pair of 4-1 losses to Indiana State and Valparaiso on Friday.
Emily Geary and
Madisen Noll delivered an RBI for the Lions, with Geary picking up an RBI against the Sycamores and Noll collecting one against the Beacons. Lindenwood collected eight hits across both games and were led offensively by
Karter Skillman, who collected a hit in each game today.
GAME ONE: Indiana State 4, Lindenwood 1
Indiana State grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning behind an RBI single up the middle. The Lions responded in the bottom of the third as
Madisen Noll and
Kylee Crowder led off the inning with back-to-back walks and was followed by a
Tori Hatton SAC bunt to advance both runners to second and third with one out in the inning.
Emily Geary evened the score as she drove in Noll to tie the game at one. Lindenwood left two runners on base to end the inning as the score remained tied at one through three innings of play.
Ryleigh Owens limited the damage over the next three innings by allowing three hits and getting a lot of ground ball outs to keep the Sycamores off the scoreboard after six innings of play. However, the Lions left two more runners on base in the bottom of the fifth inning and couldn't bring in the go-ahead run as the game stayed knotted at one heading to the last inning of play.
Indiana State took the lead back in the top of the seventh inning behind three runs on a bases loaded single that scored two and a single up the middle that scored one to make it 4-1 with the Lions still having a chance in the bottom of inning number seven. However, the Lions did not put a runner on base as Indiana State went on to defeat the Lions 4-1.
GAME TWO: Valparaiso 4, Lindenwood 1
Similar to game one, the Beacons grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a sacrifice fly. After giving up the SAC fly, Freshman pitcher
Ava Risum didn't allow a run over the next two innings as she limited Valpo to three hits and struck out one. Valparaiso extended the lead in the top of the fifth after the Beacons recorded a two-out double to left center followed by an RBI single to left center to extend their lead to 2-0 after 4.5 innings of play. The Lions wasted no time getting a run back as
Anna Sanders led off the inning with a double to center field and
Dallis Darnell followed the double by Sanders by putting the ball and play and reaching on an error to immediately threaten to push across a run.
Madisen Noll pushed the Lions first run of the game across with an RBI ground out that scored Sanders, but that was all Lindenwood was able to get as they cut the deficit in half by a score of 2-1 with two innings to go. Valparaiso added a run in both the sixth and seventh innings and limited the Lions to two hits over the last two innings to take the game by a score of 4-1.
Lindenwood will be back tomorrow for the final two games of the Lindenwood Invite with games at 2 and 7 p.m against Green Bay and Valparaiso.
