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DECATUR, Ala.  - - Cate Simon’s two-run homerun and Hannah Washburn’s 12-strikeout, complete game effort helped the Truman softball team take down 15^th-ranked Indianapolis 2-1 in the final game of a 6-0 weekend at the UAH Charger Chillout.

The Bulldogs, who won six straight to start the season for the first time since 2001, opened the day with a 9-6 come-from-behind victory against Tiffin (Ohio) before taking down the nationally-ranked Greyhounds in the finale. Truman found itself down 5-1 in the opener through two innings before starting its comeback with a Kelsey Bollman solo shot in the third to make it 5-2. Then, in the fifth, Danielle Lewellen singled and followed Ally McReynolds all the way around the basepaths to score on a throwing error on the Dragon catcher. Bollman then singled in front of Kristin Grossman  who delivered an RBI single to even the game at 5-all. Whitney Richardson then doubled Grossman over to third, with both moving up a base and supplying the go-ahead run on a passed ball for a 6-5 lead.

After Tiffin tied it in the bottom of the sixth, the Bulldogs got a run across in the seventh on a wild pitch, then added additional insurance on a Meredith Kusky two-RBI single for a 9-6 edge. Kindra Henze,  who came on in relief of Kirsten Krause in the second, finished the game with a 1-2-3 seventh to earn her first win of the season. Hinze struck out eight and allowed just one run in her 5.2 innings of work.

Immediately after the Tiffin game ended, the Bulldogs took the field against an Indianapolis team that took down No. 1 Valdosta (Ga.) State on Saturday in the tournament finale. In a true pitcher’s duel, the Bulldogs broke through in the fifth when Richardson walked with one out to become the Bulldogs’ first base runner. Then, Simon supplied the fireworks with a two-run blast, giving the purple and white a 2-0 lead.

That would be more than enough for Hannah Washburn,  who went the distance and gave up just one run in the seventh inning to earn her fourth win of the weekend. She struck out a dozen Greyhounds – the most by any Bulldog since April 2010 -  and gave up just three hits to drop her opening weekend ERA to 0.68 in 20.2 total innings.  The game featured five total hits, with McReynolds supplying a sixth inning double.

Truman hit .329 for the weekend, led by a .600 average by Kusky and a team-high nine RBI off the bat of Grossman. The Bulldog pitching staff struck out 41 hitters in 41 innings en route to a 3.24 ERA, as Henze and Krause added a win apiece. Truman also committed just four errors in its first full weekend of outdoor action this spring and went a perfect 14-for-14 stealing bases, led by Lewellen’s five.

The Bulldogs return to action next Friday through Sunday (Feb. 22-24) at the MIAA/NSIC Crossover Dome tournament in Rochester, Minnesota.
Courtesy: Truman State University