QUINCY, Ill. – The UIndy softball team (33-19, 14-14 GLVC) exploded for seven runs in the final two innings of the second game at Quincy University Friday, salvaging a split with an 8-2 win. After falling 2-1 in the opener, the Greyhounds' late surge in the capper featured a grand slam by senior
Natalie Lalich – her second home run of the day.
Quincy 3, UIndy 2
The Lady Hawks (17-27, 9-19) got all the runs they needed in the first, blasting back-to-back-to-back solo home runs off of freshman starter
Lauren Honkomp (22-10). Honkomp settled down from there, however, keeping Quincy off the board the rest of the way.
The Hounds finally broke the seal in the sixth, as Lalich connected on her 11th home run of the year with a two-run bomb. The shot cut the lead to one with nobody out, but the Hounds would not produce another base runner as Quincy starter Emily Griskell (11-12) finished the game a winner.
Senior
Katie Kelly went 3 for 4 with a double, and senior
Dani Turner added two hits and a run scored.
UIndy 8, Quincy 2
The Greyhounds looked destined for another one-run loss, as they trailed 2-1 after five innings. The UIndy bats came alive with two runs in the top of the sixth and a whopping five more in the seventh. The game-winning RBI came from
Cathy Skaggs when her sixth-inning groundout scored Turner with the go-ahead tally.
But it was Lalich's hit in the seventh that made the most noise. After the Hounds went station to station on three consecutive singles, Lalich sent one over the left field fence for her first grand slam of the year and third of her career. UIndy tacked on one more score on
Tayler Weck's RBI single later in the inning.
Kelly had another multi-hit game with two singles, a walk and two runs;
Taylor Podschweit had three hits and a run; and
Julia Liceaga started the seventh-inning rally with a single and a run scored.
In the circle, freshman
Crystal Sicard (11-7) got the win, going 5 2/3 innings while giving up two runs and six hits. Honkomp came in with two on and two out in the sixth before slamming the door and then tossing a perfect seventh to earn her third career save.
Still fighting for a spot in GLVC Tournament, the Greyhounds wrap up the regular season Sunday with a doubleheader at Truman State University. The Hounds head into the weekend in a three-way tie for seventh in the conference. After Sunday, the top eight teams will head to East Peoria, Ill., for the 2017 GLVC Tournament, scheduled for May 5-7.
