INDIANAPOLIS – The 10th-ranked UIndy softball team (43-12) opened the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional 2 in dramatic fashion Friday, walking off with a 3-1 extra-inning win versus Trevecca Nazarene.  Sophomore first baseman Natalie Lalich delivered the game winner in the eighth with a  two-run bomb that stayed just inside the left-field foul pole.
 
The host and second-seeded Greyhounds advance to tomorrow's winners' bracket game at 10 a.m.  They will face No. 3-seed Ashland, who defeated Truman State, 5-4, Friday.  Truman and Trevecca with face off in an elimination game Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

UIndy's extra-inning splash started with a leadoff double from Casey Williamson.  Two batters later, Lalich wrapped a 2-1 pitch around the foul pole and onto National Avenue for her 11th dinger of the season.
 
Lalich also contributed to the Hounds' first run way back in the fourth inning.  She hit the first of back-to-back doubles before pinch-runner Crystal Rains scored on Jenny Thompson's two-bagger.
 
Though the UIndy offense managed just one run through seven innings of regulation, junior Morgan Foley kept the Hounds in the game with a marvelous pitching performance.  After the Trojans (38-9) pushed across an unearned tally in the top of the first, Foley retired 19 of the final 22 batters on the way to her 34th win of the year.  The Louisville, Ky., native surrendered just two hits all day – both singles – while striking out 13 and walking only one in the complete-game effort.
 
Lalich added a sixth-inning single to her line to finish 3-for-4 at the plate with a run and two RBIs.  Jessie Noone added two singles and two steals, and Erika Goodwin managed a hit and a pair of walks.
 
Haley Fagan (21-5) went the distance for TNU but took the loss in the circle.  The Trojans' lone run came on an RBI single rom senior center fielder Kelsey Kemp in the first.