Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NASHVILLE - On the final day of the TSU Tiger Invitational, the IUPUI softball team split a pair of games defeating Morgan State, 4-2, before falling to tournament host Tennessee State, 7-2.

With the split IUPUI moved to 5-8 on the season.

IUPUI 4, Morgan State 2

Morgan State took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning after Shareday Christina reached base on a Jaguar fielding error. Centerfielder Kimber Salvas followed with a single to right center, advancing all the way to third on the throw in from right field while Christina scored. Tiffany Rubin continued the Bears' attack, driving a double to left field to score Salvas.

The Jags answered in the third inning after Rupert hit a fly ball to left field. The ball popped out of Nicole Holguin's glove, and a hustling Rupert landed on second before the ball was recovered. Ali Mosier followed with a single up the middle to score Rupert, and she advanced to second base on the throw home. Alicia Brewer struck out on a called strike, but reached first base on a dropped third strike. With two outs, Lindsey Richards hit a liner to left field for her first triple of the season and third in her career to bring in Brewer and Mosier to make the score 3-2.

The Jags added one more run in the fifth on another Richards single. Richards collected two of IUPUI's five hits, going 2-2 with a walk and three RBI's. Aundria Basquez also added a triple in the sixth for her first hit on the season. 

Morgan State threatened to score in the top of the fifth when runners reached first and third, but it would not push another run across for the rest of the game. 

Emili Escamilla picked up her second win in the circle, moving to 2-3 on the season. Escamilla tossed five innings, allowed only four hits, one walk and one earned run.

 Jocelyn Oppenhuis tossed the final two innings, recording her first save for the season. Oppenhuis retired four consecutive batters, allowing only one runner to reach base on a hit-by-a-pitch before closing out the game on two flyouts. 

Tennessee State 7, IUPUI 2

Coming into the finale of the TSU Tiger Invitational against tournament host Tennessee State, the Jags were looking to cap off the tournament with another win, but the Tigers defeated the Jaguars, 7-2.

Errors put the Jaguars behind the eight ball right away as a throwing error in the bottom of the first allowed two Tiger runs to score.

The Jaguars put runners on in both the second and third innings, but failed to trim their deficit. That proved costly in the third as another IUPUI miscue led to Tennessee State's third run of the game. In the bottom of the third, the Tigers put a runner on courtesy of a lead-off single. That runner moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and looked to be aggressive during the next at-bat by attempting to steal third. The steal was successful, but an errant throw by the catcher trying to catch the runner got away from the third baseman allowing the run to score, upping the TSU lead to 3-0.

Tennessee State tacked on another run in the fourth, before the Jags got on the board in the fifth. Morgan Schlobohm got the inning started with a one-out single and she quickly moved to second on a single from Kelsey Rupert. An Ali Mosier single up the middle brought home the Jags first run of the game, while moving Rupert to third putting runners on the corners for Alicia Brewer. With Brewer at the plate, the Jags put on a double steal and both runners were safe moving Mosier into scoring position while cutting the deficit in half at 4-2. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, they couldn't push any more runs across as a pop up and ground out ended the threat.

Just as IUPUI closed within a pair of runs, Tennessee State retaliated with three runs in the fifth to expand their lead to 7-2.

From that point, the Jags couldn't muster another rally and fell by that 7-2 margin to the Tigers.

Rupert led IUPUI with two hits, while Nikki Thomas picked up the loss despite giving up just two earned runs and striking out six in six innings of work.

For their efforts throughout the weekend, both Rupert and Thomas were named to the All-Tournament Team.

IUPUI returns to action on Saturday, March 2, when it heads to Evansville, Ind., for the Evansville Tournament. The Jags open the tournament with a game against the tournament host Aces at 2 p.m., before taking on Austin Peay at 6 p.m. On Sunday, March 3, IUPUI meets Cleveland State at 11 a.m., before concluding the tournament against Evansville at 3 p.m.