SMYRNA, Tenn. – The No. 22 UIndy softball team will have a happy bus ride home Saturday evening after racking up four wins in four games during its season-opening stay at the Music City Invitational. After sweeping Tiffin yesterday, the Greyhounds picked up two more region wins Saturday, walking off Ashland, 7-6, and run-ruling Kentucky Wesleyan, 21-0.
 
GAME 1 | UIndy 7, Ashland 6
UIndy orchestrated one of its biggest comebacks in recent memory. Down 5-0 heading into the bottom of the third, the Hounds stormed back with three runs in the bottom of the third and two more in the fourth. The surge started with a two-run single by Josie Jager—a precursor to her late-game heroics.
 
The Hounds would later find themselves down to their final out in the seventh trailing 6-5. But Jager delivered again, roping a clutch single to left, bringing home Brooklyn Willis and Cheyenne Eads with the tying and winning runs.
 
Eads, who finished with two hits and three runs scored at the plate, also went the distance in the circle. She shook off a rocky start to ultimately give the Hounds a chance in the seventh, striking out five to move to 2-0 on the year.
 
Junior shortstop Cara Cooper scored twice, and senior catcher Ella Palm coaxed a pair of walks. As a team, the Hounds racked up six stolen bases, including a career-high three steals by Eads.
 
GAME 2 | UIndy 21, KWC 0 (5 inn.)
In its largest winning deficit in more than a quarter century, the UIndy blew it open early with a dozen runs in the second. The Hounds sent 17 batters to the plate in the inning, with the first nine reaching base safely. When the dust settled, UIndy had compiled 11 hits and four walks in the fatal frame, including a leadoff triple by junior Abby Maguire.  
 
Meanwhile, the Greyhound pitcher staff was nearly as impressive, as Caitlin Bunte, Hailey Thompson and Isabelle Noble combined for a one-hit shutout. Bunte tossed the first three frames to earn the win. Relivers Thompson and Noble each sat the Panthers down in order, with Thompson striking out the side.
 
Sophomore Brooklyn Willis led the Hounds with four hits, Sydney Oliver had a base-loaded double in the fifth inning to finish with five RBIs, and Maguire touched home plate four times in just her sixth career start.
 
UIndy last scored this many runs in a 21-4 drumming of McKendree on March 10, 2022. Meanwhile, the 21-run margin marked its largest since a 22-0 rout of Franklin back on March 20, 2000.
  
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds are scheduled to face their fourth straight GMAC opponent when they travel to Springfield, Ill., for a doubleheader versus Lake Erie on Friday, Feb. 13.