EAST PEORIA, Ill. – The top-seeded UIndy softball team endured its first loss at the 2026 GLVC Tournament Thursday afternoon, falling 4-2 to fifth-seeded Rockhurst. The highlight came in the top of fifth when sophomore
Brooklyn Willis hit her 19th home run of the year, setting a new UIndy mark.
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The Greyhounds move to the losers' bracket and will face seven-seed Maryville in an elimination game this evening. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET
INS & OUTS
Fresh off earning
GLVC Co-Pitcher of the Year laurels last night, freshman
Caitlin Bunte took some early damage after a solo homer from Rockhurst scored the game's first run. UIndy answered with a game-tying double from
Cara Cooper in the top of third, but the Hawks moved back in front in the bottom half of the third with another homer—a three-run shot from first baseman Claire Long.
Willis halved the Hawks lead with her record-breaking homer in the fifth. Later the Hounds put two on in the seventh but stranded both runners, sealing the victory for Rockhurst.
Bunte (26-2) was tagged with the loss—just her second of the year. She went 2 1/3 innings and allowed three runs (two earned). Cheynne Eads finished the game, tossing the final 3 2/3.
Eads' seventh-inning single and the aforementioned knocks by Cooper and Willis represented the only UIndy hits of the contest.
NOTES
The game featured a pair of weather delays, including a 68-minute lightning stoppage in the bottom of the sixth inning … Willis' home run total surpassed the 18 hit by Emily O'Connor just two years ago … Willis also surpassed the team's total base mark on Thursday and now sits at 158 on the year.
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