Box scores
UIndy 5, #13 SVSU 2
UIndy 12, #13 SVSU 3 (6 inn.)

UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich.-   The University of Indianapolis softball team will make its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II World Series with a doubleheader sweep of host No. 13 Saginaw Valley State Saturday in the Super Regional round at the SVSU Athletic Complex Saturday afternoon.  The Greyhounds posted wins of 5-2 and 12-3 to advance to the eight-team championships next week.

UIndy (36-19) got things started in the bottom of the third inning, scoring four runs to break the game wide open.  The inning began with Carmen Martinez reaching on a throwing error and Chrissy Stephens singling behind her with nobody down.  Maggie Swanson drove in the games first run with a shot back through the box that SVSU starter Kari Bowlby got a glove on, but couldn't stop and two runs came around.

The inning continued when Megan Russell rapped a double down the right-field line to score the third run.  Ashley Boxley provided the fourth run, blasting a ball deep into the teeth of a cutting wind, settling for a double off the leftfield fence and a 4-0 Greyhound advantage.

The Greyhounds added to their advantage in the sixth, adding a single run on Russell's RBI double, her third hit of the game.  The run would prove to be big in the next inning as three straight Cards reached base after the first out and making it a 5-2 Indianapolis lead.  

Meagan Gutierrez came on in relief, garnering a strikeout and a grounder to end the threat and force game three.

In the deciding game, UIndy grabbed the early lead in the top of the first inning.  Keltz came around to score on an RBI double from Boxley, staking starter Meagan Gutierrez to a 1-0 lead.  Gutierrez would make it hold up until the fourth winning when Nicole Fick hit a leadoff homer to rightfield, tying the score.  The next two Cardinal batters would reach chasing Gutierrez from the game and signaling Russell's return to the circle.  

Russell shrugged off a passed ball that advanced both runners by getting a strikeout, a grounder and another K to squash the threat and keep the score a one-apiece.

SVSU (39-11) was back at it in the fifth, with runners at second and third and just one out.   A grounder produced an out, but a bloop single to left scored the Cards' second run.  Another run would score on a come-backer to Russell that she could not field cleanly and the runner was safe at first while the third SV run crossed the plate.

The Greyhounds immediately went to work on regaining the lead, and a series of events transpired to make it a memorable inning where UIndy plated 11 runners.  The Hounds got the first two runners aboard, then  Jessica Breeden hit a pinch-hit double to score the first run of the frame.  Martinez followed with a two-run double to give the Hounds the lead.

Stephens then hit a ball right on the leftfield line that the SVSU leftfielder could not corral, the third of four Cardinal errors in the inning.  The real drama in the inning unfolded during the next at bat as Keltz lined a ball at third base that was originally ruled to have struck third base, sending the ball richocheting.  UIndy plated a run on the play but had a runner thrown out at the plate and another trying to advance to third as they inning appeared to be over with a 5-3 Greyhound lead.

After a lengthy deliberation by the three umpires, it was ruled that Keltz's liner hit Martinez, the runner at third, in fair play, making it a dead ball situation and no runners would advance.  So, instead of a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the inning, it was 4-3 with runners at first and second with two down.   What looked to be a break for SVSU turned out to be a huge break for the Greyhounds.  

The UIndy offense made sure to get that run back and more.  What followed was a two-out rally that produced eight more runs on six singles, a walk and another error.  All told, the Hounds sent 16 batters to the plate and scored 11 runs in the frame.  SVSU (39-11) had not had a team score more than six runs on them in a game this season, and now the Greyhounds had almost doubled that total in this inning alone in the Super Regional championship game.

Leading by nine, UIndy only needed three outs to nail down the school's first World Series appearance.  Russell got the first two quickly on groundouts and shrugged off a single by striking out the final batter swinging.  The junior earned the win in relief, improving to 19-10 on the season.  She pitched three innings oh three-hit ball, allowing a pair of runs, one earned while striking out three.

The Hounds collected 14 hits in the championship game, three coming Maggie Swanson.  Four different UIndy players had multiple hits in the title game and Martinez drove in three runs.

UIndy will play in the eight-team, double-elimination World Series in Salem, Va.  May 21-25.  Check back to athletics.uindy.edu for opponent and game time.