Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
 
MACON, Ga. – On Friday, the IUPUI softball team opened its 2013 season with a split after defeating Alabama State, 5-3, before falling in the final inning to tournament host Mercer, 7-5.

Amanda Rivera led the Jags on the field for the first time as a head coach and led IUPUI to a come-from-behind victory in the opener to record her first victory.

“We were in every pitch, and we really competed today,” Rivera said. “I thought we really played the game well today, but we have to fix those defensive mistakes that we made today if we want to come back tomorrow with two more wins.”

The IUPUI offense was led by Jessica Lam, who belted two homers on opening day and drove in four runs.

IUPUI 5, Alabama State 3
In the opener against Alabama State, it didn’t take the Hornets long to take the lead as they used a RBI ground out and a RBI single in the opening half-inning to take a 2-0 lead.

IUPUI had a chance to equal the score loading the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first, but a strikeout, pop out and ground out left the bases loaded and kept ASU in front by a pair of runs.

The Jags were retired in order in the second and the third, while Alabama State padded its lead to 3-0 courtesy of a solo homer in the third.

However, IUPUI was able to strike in the fourth on a Lam solo shot to center field, bringing IUPUI’s deficit back to two runs, 3-1.

Still trailing by two in the bottom of the sixth, the Jags were able to seize momentum scoring four runs on a pair of hits to catapult in front, 5-3. Angela Bartucci and Jazmine Pedrotti were both walked to start the sixth and both Bartucci and Pedrotti quickly scored on a double to right-center field off the bat of Eryn Dillon, which knotted the score at 3-3. Another double followed, this time off the bat of Kelsey Rupert, that plated Dillon from second to put IUPUI in front for the first time, 4-3. Following a wild pitch that moved Rupert to third, Morgan Schlobohm manufactured an insurance run on a RBI ground out to first upping the Jaguars cushion to 5-3.

Emili Escamilla, who entered the game in the fourth#, came back into the circle in the seventh and shut down the Hornets to preserve the 5-3 season-opening win.

Dillon, who entered the game in the fifth, led IUPUI with a pair of hits and two RBI. Schlobohm, who was playing her first game in a Jaguars uniform, paced the team in steals swiping three bags in her debut.

Escamilla picked up the victory after tossing four innings of scoreless relief in which she relinquished just two hits while striking out a pair.

Mercer 7, IUPUI 5
The Jaguars didn’t have much time to enjoy their first win as they took on Mercer 20 minutes following their first win, but the momentum they picked up late in the opening game carried into the first inning against tournament host Mercer.

Schlobohm and Ali Mosier led off the game with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Despite consecutive strikeouts, IUPUI put a big number on the board as Lam drilled a three-run homer to center field placing the Jags in front, 3-0.

The Bears got two runs back in the bottom of the third, only to watch IUPUI get both those runs back in the top of the fourth. The inning began with Lam reaching on a bunt, before moving to second on a single from Bartucci. Looking to be aggressive on the base paths, Rivera called for a double steal and the move paid dividends. Lam got credit for stealing third, but the throw from the catcher sailed into the outfield allowing Bartucci to advance to third and Lam score. During the next at-bat, Pedrotti brought home Bartucci with a RBI single moving the Jags lead back to three, 5-2.

Unfortunately for the Jaguars, defensive miscues allowed Mercer to get back in the game. Three errors in the bottom of the fourth helped the Bears score three times to even the score at 5-5.

After both teams squandered opportunities to take the lead in the sixth, it was Mercer who scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run homer to earn the walk-off 7-5 victory.

Bartucci went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate for the Jags, while Lam added a pair of hits and drove in three runs.

The Jaguars are back in action on Saturday, Feb. 9, with another doubleheader against the Hornets and the Bears. IUPUI takes on Mercer at 2:15 p.m., before meeting Alabama State at 4:30 p.m.