ALBERTVILLE, Ala.—The No. 12-ranked UIndy softball team started its 2022 season Saturday with a bang, earning a pair of run-rule-shortened wins over regional opponents at the annual UAH Charger Chillout. The Greyhounds combined for 19 runs and two defensive shutouts, blanking Kentucky Wesleyan, 8-0, and Trevecca Nazarene, 11-0 – both in five innings.
 
GAME 1 | UIndy 8, KWC 0 (5 innings)
Sophomore-sensation Kenzee Smith (1-0) took the ball in game one and picked up right where she left off last spring. The 2021 Division II Freshman of the Year pitched around a pair of first-inning walks and went on to retire 12 of the next 13 Panther hitters, amassing nine strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings pitched.
 
Offensively, the first hit of 2022 came in bottom of the second inning with a leadoff double from super-senior Gianni Iannantone. Sophomore Sydnee Perry drove her in with an RBI single to get the Hounds on the board.
 
An inning later, UIndy started the third with four consecutive singles, capped by a two-RBI knock by junior Emily O'Connor.
 
The Hounds broke it open with a four-spot in the fourth inning; UIndy combined for four hits, two HBPs and a walk, highlighted by a two-run double from O'Connor.
 
Tara Williams started the bottom of the fifth with a pinch-hit single. She moved to third on a KWC error before scoring the walk-off run on a single from freshman Megan Nichols, good for the latter's first collegiate RBI.
 
GAME 2 | UIndy 11, TNU 0 (5 innings)
The Hounds ambushed the Trojans with six runs in the bottom of the first. Nichols had two hits and an RBI in the frame, while Lexy Rees and S. Foster each notched a pair of ribbies.
 
That proved more than an adequate cushion for game-two starter Haylie Foster (1-0). Moving from second base in the opener to the circle in the capper, Foster tossed four scoreless innings to get the win, with a third-inning bunt single her only hit allowed.
 
After the fruitful first, the Greyhound offense kept the gas pedal down with additional tallies in each of the next three frames. They tacked on two more in the second with sac flies from Rees and Perry, followed later by RBIs from O'Connor (single), Maddy Stout (triple) and Lucy Garrett (groundout).
 
All told, UIndy racked up 24 hits on the day, compared to just two from its opponents. Twelve Hounds had at least one base hit, with Nichols and S. Foster earning four hits apiece. O'Connor totaled five RBIs and Iannatone blasted three doubles.
 
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds remain in Alabama for the final day of the Chillout, facing Shorter  at 11 a.m. ET and the University of West Alabama  at 1:30 p.m.