Midway, IU Southeast collect opening round wins in RSC Championship
RSC Sports Information
KOKOMO, Ind. - Midway University and Indiana University Southeast both recorded mercy rule-shortened victories in the opening round of the 2022 River States Conference Softball Championship, Thursday afternoon, at rain-drenched Championship Park.
Midway, the No. 3 seed out of the West Division, upended East Division No. 2 seed Ohio Christian, 9-1, while West Division No. 2 seed Indiana Southeast dispatched Point Park, the No. 3 seed from the East Division, 13-5.
Both games were halted after five innings.
With its win, IU Southeast (23-23) advances to a winner's bracket matchup with East Division No. 1 seed Rio Grande (37-11) on Friday at 11 a.m.
Midway (30-14) will tangle with West Division No. 1 seed Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (26-12) in another winner's bracket game on Friday at 11 a.m.
Ohio Christian (23-20) will meet the Rio Grande-IU Southeast loser in an elimination game, while Point Park (22-21) will square off with the SMWC-Midway loser in another elimination contest. Both games are slated for 1 p.m.
Weather permitting, Friday's schedule will also include the winner's bracket final at 4 p.m. and another elimination contest at 6 p.m.
On Thursday, Midway snapped a scoreless fifth inning tie by scoring all nine of its runs - seven of which came with two outs.
Alyssa Yates had a three-run double and Carson Flynn added a two-run triple in the Eagles' offensive uprising, while Mary Andres had a sacrifice fly and Taylor Dukate had a run-scoring single in the inning.
Ohio Christian avoided a shutout in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Kylee Bako.
Flynn, Dukate and Makenna Talcott all had two hits in the winning effort for Midway, while Kennadi Thompson and Katie Rhodes each had a double.
Madison Ludwig went the distance in the circle for the Eagles, scattering five hits and three walks over five innings.
Hilarie Spitler started and lost for OCU, allowing eight hits and seven runs - six earned - over 4-2/3 innings.
Kristin Gardner had two of the Trailblazers' five hits.
The other opening round contest also saw a nine-run fifth inning - this one by IU Southeast after Point Park had scored twice in the top of the fourth inning and three times in the fifth to overcome an early 3-0 deficit.
The Grenadiers sent 12 batters to the plate in the home fifth and capped their winning rally with a two-out RBI single to center off the bat of Erin Templeman.
Lindsey Nelson had three hits, including a double, and drove in two runs for Southeast, while Ellie Jackson had two doubles and two runs batted in and Brooklyn Gibbs finished 2-for-2 with two RBI.
Katie Templeman had a triple, while Macie Zink and Hayley McFarling both doubled in the winning effort.
Gibbs went the distance in the circle for IUS, allowing 10 hits and three walks over five innings.
Jada Simon suffered the loss for Point Park, allowing nine hits and seven runs over 4-1/3 innings.
Cristina Sargent went 3-for-3 with three doubles and a run batted in for the Pioneers, while Simon went 2-for-2 with an RBI and Cameron Meier was 2-for-3 in a losing cause.
Jodi Frontino added two RBI for PPU, while Syndi Reese had a double.
The RSC Game Central presented by Stretch Internet will broadcast live streaming video of all games of the championship.
Subscriptions are available for $7.95 per game or $19.99 for the entire tournament.
Live statistics will be provided on PrestoStats.