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MONROE, La. – Behind steady offensive production and great pitching from Jocelyn Oppenhuis and Nikki Thomas, the IUPUI softball team picked up two wins on the opening day of its 2012 campaign downing Southeast Missouri, 5-0, before defeating tournament host Louisiana-Monroe, 11-3, at the ULM Mardi Grad Classic.

“Our pitchers did a great job of keeping the hitters off-balance, taking a lot of pressure off our defense,” said head coach Maggie Calcaterra. “Our hitters performed well also, which allowed the pitchers to relax as well. We were able to execute by getting bunts down and getting key hits. It was a successful team effort.”

IUPUI 5, Southeast Missouri 0
In the opening game against the Redhawks, the Jaguars got out to a quick lead in the top of the first inning. In her first at bat in an IUPUI uniform, Nicole Checkie singled down the left field line to start the ball game and proceeded to move into scoring position by stealing second base. Erin Dillon followed with a walk and both Dillon and Checkie moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt from Alicia Brewer.

With runners in scoring position and one out, Leah Prewitt lifted a sacrifice fly deep enough to score Checkie giving the Jags an early 1-0 lead.

In the third, the Jags tacked on another run courtesy of the top of the order. After Checkie was thrown out at home trying to score on a passed ball, Brewer singled to right field moving Dillon over to third base.

With one out and runners on the corners, Prewitt executed another sacrifice fly , this time to center field, scoring Dillon and moving the IUPUI lead to 2-0.

Meanwhile, Jocelyn Oppenhuis continued to keep the Redhawks off-balance not allowing a run through six innings, giving the IUPUI offense a chance to pad its lead.

In the sixth, the Jags did just that on a pinch-hit, two-out double from Jenny Royse that doubled their lead to 4-0.

After Jocelyn Oppenhuis worked her way out of trouble in the bottom half of the sixth, a RBI double from Prewitt, her third RBI of the game, tacked on an insurance run placing the Jags comfortably in front, 5-0, heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Oppenhuis struck out the lead-off batter and proceeded to force a pair of pop outs to end the game, clinching the season-opening 5-0 win for the Jags.

Checkie, Dillon, Ashley Seering and Nikki Thomas all registered multi-hit games in the opener, led by Seering’s three base knocks. Prewitt and Royse combined to drive in all five runs with Prewitt driving in three and Royse bringing home a pair on her two-run double in the sixth.

Oppenhuis relinquished just six hits while going the distance and recorded eight punch outs as the Jaguars notched their second straight season-opening victory.

IUPUI 11, Louisiana-Monroe 3
Out of the gates, the Jaguars continued to build upon the momentum gained from their win over Southeast Missouri. IUPUI jumped on top of tournament host, Louisiana-Monroe, early and never looked back.

A two-out, RBI single by Prewitt in the first inning got IUPUI on the board before it exploded for six runs in the third.

In the third, Dillon doubled to lead things off and a walk by Brewer followed by a Prewitt single loaded the bases for Seering. Seering reached on a fielder’s choice in which Dillon scored and left the bases loaded, but the bags were quickly cleared on a grand slam from Royse, the first home run of her career.

With the inning still alive, Thomas got on base via a walk and moved to third two batters later on a double from Kelsey Rupert putting a pair of runners in scoring position. The Jags could only bring home one runner on a sacrifice fly from Checkie, but the damage was done as the six-run third inning widened IUPUI’s lead to 7-0.

Two more Jags runs in the top of the fourth pushed the advantage to 9-0, before the Warhawks used a three-run bottom of the fourth to close the gap to 9-3.

However, just as ULM closed its deficit to five, a two-run Julie Love homer down the left field line in the fifth pushed the IUPUI cushion to 11-3.

Needing three outs to finish the off the contest, Thomas set down the Warhawks in order to secure the 11-3 victory.

Prewitt finished the contest a perfect 3-of-3 from the plate with and RBI, while Royse went 2-for-2 with four runs batted in.

Thomas went 1-for-1 at the plate with an RBI, while surrendering three hits and three runs in the circle to pick up her first win of the season.

The Jags are back in action at the ULM Mardi Gras Classic on Saturday, Feb. 11, when they take on Northwestern State and SIU-Edwardsville at 6 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET, respectively.