The Youngstown State softball team scored three runs in the first inning and got another remarkable performance in the circle from Sophie Howell to beat IUPUI 3-1 on Wednesday evening to stay alive in the 2023 Horizon League Softball Championship.
The Penguins will advance in the loser's bracket to play another elimination game on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. The double-elimination tournament is being held at Green Bay's King Field.
Howell was on the wrong end of a 1-0 decision in an opening-round loss to Northern Kentucky, but she shook off the tough loss to start again against the Jaguars just over a half hour later. The junior from Champion, Ohio, scattered six hits and struck out five Jaguars to earn her 15th victory of the season and her first career postseason win.
The Penguins managed just two hits to support the junior right-hander in the afternoon setback, and they surpassed that three hits in the first inning in the evening victory.
Leadoff batter Sara Fessler singled on a 3-2 pitch to start the game, and she moved to second on Hailey Niederkohr's sacrifice bunt. Fessler was then called out trying to advance to third on a grounder to the shortstop, but a key reply challenge overturned the call to put Fessler and Conchetta Rinaldi at the corners with one out. Jillian Jakse followed with an RBI double to plate Fessler, Rinaldi scored on Avrey Schumacher's sacrifice fly, and Jakse raced home on Taylor Truran's single.
Howell worked around a pair of two-out, bouncing singles in the third before IUPUI got a run against her in the fifth. It could have been a bigger inning for the Jaguars had it not been for a defensive gem by Rinaldi from the catcher position. IUPUI had runners at the corners with one out, and Rinaldi got out of her stance to field a squeeze bunt and dove back toward the plate to tag out Maicey Bedrick. Jaida Speth followed with an RBI single to make the score 3-1 and put the tying run in scoring position, but Howell got out of the frame with a fly out.
The Jaguars put the tying run on in the sixth after a two-out single and an infield error, but another defensive highlight allowed the Penguins to protect the lead. With Bedrick up and runners on first and second, she hit a short foul pop-up near the first-base dugout that Jakse dove to snare just before it hit the ground.
Howell issued a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh, but she bounced back to strike out the second, third and fourth batters in IUPUI's lineup.
Fessler finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Elyssa Imler was 2-for-3 to lead the Penguins offensively. Kendal Calvert and Speth had two hits apiece for IUPUI.
Jaguars starter Alexa Holman settled in after the first inning and went the distance for IUPUI in the loss. She allowed the three runs on seven hits and struck out two Penguins hitters.
