Evansville, Ind. – The University of Findlay softball team dropped both games of a neutral site double header on Saturday, Feb. 24, playing on the first of two days at the Blue Bridge Border Battle. The Oilers dropped the opener to Illinois Springfield by a score of 7-4 before losing the night cap to Missouri S&T, also by a score of 7-4. With those two losses, the Oilers fall to 4-4 on the year.
Game 1 Box Score (L 7-4 vs Illinois Springfield)
Findlay took an early 3-0 lead in the first game, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning. Those runs came on an RBI single by sophomore Alexys Antal, a double steal by sophomore Annika Bredel and Antal, and an infield RBI single by junior Lainey Bingham.
UIS rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the first and later took a 5-3 lead in the third.
Bingham picked up an infield single in the fifth to send junior Cassie Warner home, but the Prairie Stars scored a single run in each of the final two innings to secure the victory.
Sophomore Kayla Dykin took the loss in the circle as she threw 4.0 innings and allowed six runs, all earned, on five hits. She walked two and struck out six.
Bredel, senior Kaitlynn Briggs, and Bingham all had two hits in the game. Bingham had two RBI to lead the way in that category.
Game 2 Box Score (L 7-4 vs Missour S&T)
The Oilers again took a lead in the second game, scoring one run in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Briggs that sent senior Avery Shepherd home.
S&T took the lead at 2-1 in the second before a home run by freshman Joslynne Frazier, the first of her career, knotted it up at 2-2.
That score remained until the sixth inning when the Miners took back the lead at 3-2, but another blast by Frazier in the bottom of the sixth again pulled the score even.
Neither team could muster a run in the seventh so this one was decided in extra innings. Missour S&T took full advantage, scoring three runs in their half of the eighth to take a 7-3 lead.
Findlay got an RBI double out of Frazier but it was not enough as the Oilers would fall by a score of 7-4.
Sophomore Emma Jones started and threw seven innings. She allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits. She struck out six in the no-decision.
Frazier had a monster game at the plate, blasting a pair of home runs and hitting a double, driving in three RBI and scored two runs. Antal also had three hits in the game, one of which was a double.
Findlay is back in action on Sunday, Feb. 25 with games against Davenport at Alabama Huntsville.
