EAST PEORIA, Ill. – Playing its fifth game in two days, the third-seeded UIndy softball team (39-18) dropped a 2-0 decision to No. 4-seed Missouri-St. Louis at the GLVC Championship Tournament Friday night. The result moves the Tritons (33-21) to the Saturday's conference final versus Southern Indiana, while the Greyhounds await Monday's release of the NCAA regional seeding.
 
The UMSL game was the third elimination contest the Hounds faced on Friday. The morning game featured some pitching heroics, while the middle match-up (recap directly below) saw some offensive fireworks.
 
UIndy 9, Missouri S&T 5
After the Miners got on the board first with two runs in the top of the second, the Greyhound answered immediately with a massive rally in the bottom half. When the dust finally settled, the Hounds had amassed eight hits and seven runs, with four big ones crossing on Julia Liceaga's grand slam – her second of the season. Brooke Montgomery and Shannon Schuetz also had extra-base hits in the rally, each ripping a double.
 
Freshman pitcher Halie Waters (9-6) earned her first career postseason win. She surrendered eight hits and five runs, striking out nine and walking three in the complete-game effort.
 
All nine Greyhound hitters recorded at least one hit. Taylor Danielson finished 2 for 3 with two runs, a walk and a steal, and Gianni Iannantone went 2 of 4 with a run and two ribbies.
 
Missouri-St. Louis 2, UIndy 0
Unlike the previous contest, runs were hard to come by in Friday's final match-up. Triton-starter and Indiana-native Carly Kingery proved a tough riddle to solve for the Hounds, as the Culter, Ind., native limited the UIndy lineup to just one hit and three walks on the way to the shutout.
 
Meanwhile, sophomore Lauren Honkomp (17-9), who tossed a no-hitter earlier in the day, returned to the circle for the Hounds. She battled through 3 1/3 innings in her second start in six-and-a-half hours, giving up two runs before being relieved in favor of freshman Haylie Foster in the fourth inning.
 
Danielson accounted for the Hounds' lone hit – a first-inning single. She also walked and twice stole second base.
 
UP NEXT
The 2018 NCAA Championship field will be announced Monday at 10 a.m. ET on NCAA.com. The top eight teams in the Midwest will advance to regional play. UIndy was ranked No. 4 in Midwest prior to the conference tournament.