INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy softball team endured a season-ending 5-4 defeat versus Grand Valley State at the NCAA Midwest Regional 1 Friday. In their second elimination game of the day, the top-seeded Greyhounds nearly erased a late three-run deficit but came one timely hit short of completing the comeback, finishing their season with a 51-5 record.
 
The final score moves the fourth-seeded Lakers (39-11) to Saturday's regional final versus No. 8-seed Trevecca Nazarene at 3 p.m. for the right to advance to the best-of-three Midwest Super Regional May 11-12.

For UIndy, it marks an end to the collegiate careers of seven UIndy seniors: Cherise Boyd, Morgan Foley, Erika Goodwin, Cassie Reed, Miranda Tamayo, Jenny Thompson and Coryn Tirpak. The septet combined to help the Hounds to four NCAA Tournament berths, two Super Regional appearances and a trip to the NCAA Championships in their time wearing the Crimson and Grey. Their combined record since 2013 adds up to an amazing 197-41 (.828), good for the winningest four-year period in program history.
 
Hitting first after losing a coin flip, UIndy fell behind by a run after both the first and second innings, but both times fought back to tie it. Junior Tayler Weck drove in the tying run in each instance, hitting an RBI single in the top of the second and a sacrifice fly in the first half of the third.
 
Grand Valley orchestrated what proved to be the game-winning rally in the fifth, however, when a walk, two singles, a double and an error conspired to plate three runs for the Lakers and put them up 5-2 with just two innings to play.
 
UIndy answered with a rally of its own in the top of the sixth. Freshman Taylor Podschweit coaxed a walk to start the frame, while a Grand Valley error and an Erika Goodwin single loaded the bases with nobody out.
 
Centerfielder Jessie Noone cut the deficit to one with a hard-hit single to left. Podschweit scored easily from third, while Katie Kelly, who was positioned on second, read the play perfectly and scored just a couple steps behind her teammate.
 
Now trailing 5-4, UIndy had runners on first and second with still no one out, but GV senior pitcher Sara Andrasik dug in to get three outs before allowing another run. She sandwiched a hit batsman with a strikeout, a fly out and a groundout in the exact right order to keep her club ahead by the slimmest of margins.
 
The Greyhounds could not carry the momentum into the seventh as they went down in order to end the game. Eight of the Hounds' position starters recorded a base hit, with Natalie Lalich and Emma Varsbergs each finishing with a pair of singles and Marisa Brown managing a hit and a walk.
 
Making her final start as a collegian, Foley went the distance, fanning nine in six innings. The loss froze her 2016 pitching record at 40-4, with her 40 wins good for a UIndy single-season record. Her final career strikeout total of 1,659 is good for the second-highest total in NCAA Division II history.