PEORIA, Ill. - The Lindenwood Softball team (31-23, 17-10 OVC) stayed alive in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Friday by picking up two wins over #5 SEMO and #3 SIUE to advance to Saturday's OVC Championship game against #1 Eastern Illinois tomorrow morning at 11 AM.
Danielle Franz delivered the clutch hit in the win over SEMO, and
Kylee Crowder collected four RBI including a triple and a home run in the win over SIUE to send the Lions to their first ever OVC Championship game in the Division I Era.
Lindenwood 3, SEMO 2 (9 Inn.)
The Redhawks took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning behind an RBI single up the middle as SEMO had three hits in the inning off of starter
Avery Wapp.
Samantha Roulanaitis entered the game with two outs in the first and immediately got the Lions out of a bases loaded jam to limit the damage. The Lions evened the game in the bottom of the third inning thanks to a
Jolie McMinn RBI single to left field that scored
Anna Sanders after she led off the inning with an infield single. In the fifth inning, Lindenwood took the lead after
Tori Hatton recorded her 43rd RBI of the season with a two-out triple down the right field line that scored
Teryn Brown, who led off the fifth inning with a single to right field. Hatton's 43rd RBI of the season set the single-season RBI record in Lindenwood's NCAA Era, while
Anna Sanders set the Lindenwood NCAA Era single season record for hits in a season with 67.
SEMO eventually tied the game in the sixth inning on an RBI single to center field to knot the game at two, and neither team would score in the seventh inning as the game headed to extra innings. Roulanaitis was replaced by
Ryleigh Owens in the top of the seventh inning with no outs in the inning with runners on first and second, but Owens recorded three straight outs to keep the Redhawks off the scoreboard in the seventh. Roulanaitis finished the contest with 5.1 innings pitched and allowed just one earned run while adding a strikeout to keep SEMO off balance offensively. Owens ended the game for the Lions by pitching the final three innings allowing just one hit and giving up no runs to give Lindenwood a chance at a walk off opportunity in both the eighth and ninth innings. The walk off hit came in the bottom of the ninth inning when
Danielle Franz delivered a single up the middle that brought home
Tori Hatton, who reached base on a fielder's choice with one out in the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch to move into scoring position while Franz was at the plate. Offensively, Lindenwood had 10 hits and was led by Brown, Hatton, and Sanders who each collected two hits, while Franz knocked in the game-winning RBI to send the Lions to their second elimination game of the day and third elimination game overall.
Lindenwood 13, SIUE 5
After no runs were scored in the first two innings, the Lions scored three runs behind a two-run triple from
Kylee Crowder and an RBI double from
Emily Geary to give Lindenwood a 3-0 lead after 2.5 innings played. The Cougars immediately responded with three runs of their own to even the score at three, but Lindenwood erupted for five runs in the fifth inning to separate themselves from SIUE.
Karter Skillman and
Danielle Franz had back-to-back RBI bases loaded walks to regain the lead at 5-3, and
Madison Adams extended the lead later in the inning after pinch hitting for
Dallis Darnell to put the Lions up by four at 7-3. The offense would not be done however, as Franz scored on a fielder's choice to make it 8-3 in favor of the Lions. In the sixth inning, Crowder hit her fifth home run of the season to make it 10-3 behind a two-run shot to left field, and after SIUE scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 10-5, Lindenwood scored three runs in the seventh behind a SAC fly from Geary and two stolen bases at home making it a 13-5 game.
Freshman Pitcher
Ava Risum recorded her third win of the season by pitching the final 4.1 innings of the contest and allowed only three hits and two earned runs while striking out three as she limited the Cougars for a majority of the ball game. Lindenwood ended the game with 12 hits and was led by Crowder who went 3/5 with four RBI, a triple, and a home run. Geary also had a three hit game with two doubles and a triple of her own, while
Madisen Noll and
Tori Hatton each collected two hits.
Lindenwood will now play Eastern Illinois tomorrow morning at 11 AM in the OVC Championship game. The Lions must defeat the Panthers twice to claim the 2026 OVC Tournament Championship title.
