Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4 The weather was great for softball and baseball this weekend at CERA Sports Park, and there was a great crowd on hand to watch the IUC softball team on Friday and Saturday. The Crimson Pride bats were hotter than the weather as they swept doubleheaders over Midway University and Kentucky Christian University, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 52-24. Each of these four games were close, with the home team responding with big innings and timely home runs. This was a great home weekend for Coach Tommi Stowers and the entire Crimson Pride Softball team.

Friday, March 20
Game 1
Linnea Baldner led off the bottom of the first with a single and a steal of second, and Renee Lecher's single put runners at the corners. A sacrifice by Cierra Cramer scored Baldner and moved Lecher to second. After a steal of third, Lecher scored on a sacrifice fly by Destiny Forler to give the Crimson Pride the lead 2-0.

Midway answered with a 2-out 2-run homer by Karington Briscoe to tie the score in the third. IUC scored two in the fourth on a double by Mallory Shelton and singles by Justice Cash and Kenzie Matern to regain the lead 4-2.

Midway loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth for Randi Delong, and she crushed a grand slam to give the Eagles a 6-4 lead. The Crimson Pride responded in a way that set the tone for the weekend. A walk to Lecher, a single by Forler and a walk to Cash loaded the bases for Lex Heafner, and she came through with a 3-run double to retake the lead 7-6. Sydney Sauri singled in Heafner, and she scored on a home run by Carli Hosler to make it 10-6.

The Crimson Pride added on in the sixth as 2-out singles by Forler, Shelton and Cash loaded the bases for Heafner. The senior from Columbus North came through again with a 2-run single. IUC held on for a win in game one by the final score of 12-7.

Game 2
The Crimson Pride bats stayed hot to start the second game, scoring one run in the first and adding five more in the second inning. A pair of doubles and two walks, along with a few errors and wild pitches made the lead 6-0. The Eagles got one run back in the third before scoring five in the fifth to tie the game 6-6.

Shelton hit a 2-run homer to put IUC back in front, and they added another run to lead 9-6 after five innings. They added five more runs in the sixth, highlighted by a 3-run home run by Emma Chism. The fifth run of the inning ended the game on the eight-run rule, with the final score 14-6.

Saturday, March 21
Game 1
Kentucky Christian University jumped out to an early lead as they scored two runs in the first inning. They added four more runs in the third to lead 6-0. IUC came back with two runs in the bottom of the third as Linnea Baldner led off with a single for the second time of the game. After two outs Mallory Shelton singled to right. Jordan Brown threw wildly to third, allowing Baldner to score. The catcher then threw wildly to third and Shelton scored, cutting the lead to 6-2.

Kentucky Christian added one run in the fourth, stretching the lead to five. The Crimson Pride answered with a Carli Hosler 2-run homer to make it 7-4 after four innings.

IUC really got going in the fifth. Chloe Linn led off with a walk and Shelton singled. With one out Emma Chism singled to load the bases. Lex Heafner singled to score Linn. Shelton scored on a wild pitch, with Chism and Heafner also advancing. Sydney Sauri hit a sacrifice fly to score Chism, tying the game 7-7. Hosler hit an RBI single, Baldner singled for her fourth hit of the game, and Lecher reached on an error, loading the bases with two outs. Linn came up for the second time in the inning and belted a long grand slam. That gave the Crimson Pride a 12-7 lead after five innings.

Kentucky Christian added a run in the sixth, but IUC came back again, scoring two more runs on singles by Justice Cash, Chism, Heafner and Hosler and the final score was 14-8.

Game 2
Kentucky Christian started the scoring in the first inning once again to grab the early lead 3-0. Baldner and Lecher singled to lead off the bottom of the first, but IUC could not cash in.

The Crimson Pride poured it on in the second inning. Chism led off with a single, and by the time she came up again in the inning there were still no outs! Chism flew out to center, but the bases were still loaded. Heafner singled in Shelton, and Stewart followed with a bases-clearing double. That made the score 10-3, but they weren't quite done yet. Hosler went deep for the second time on the day, and her third home run on the weekend.

With the score 12-3, Destiny Forler came in to pitch for the Crimson Pride. She shut down the Knights the rest of the way, and IUC had finished off a perfect 4-0 weekend for the first time in Crimson Pride history.

Hitting highlights:
Linnea Baldner  8-12  6 R
Lex Heafner       6-9    7 R  8 RBI
Mallory Shelton  8-12  7 R  1 HR
Emma Chism     6-10  6 R  1 HR
Carli Hosler       7-11   6 R  12 RBI  3 HR

Coach Tommi Stowers: " We really showed we can swing the bat this weekend! Up and down the lineup, just giving the next hitter a chance to shine. As a team we had 102 out of 119 quality at-bats for the weekend - that's incredible! Just a stellar weekend as a whole. Our first weekend sweep as a program. It feels good to see their hard work and energy paying off. We showed what we are capable of doing, and I'm excited to see if we can keep up this level of play."

Next on the schedule:
Three away conference doubleheaders as they travel to New Albany on Tuesday to play IU Southeast, then on to Oakland City on Saturday and St. Mary of the Woods in Terre Haute on Sunday.