Box Score
 
INDIANAPOLIS – The IUPUI softball team entered Saturday’s Summit League series finale against South Dakota State with the thought of finishing off a three-game sweep over the Jackrabbits, but SDSU avoided the sweep with a 7-1 victory over the Jags Saturday afternoon at the IUPUI Softball Complex.

The loss evened IUPUI’s overall record at 10-10 and dropped the Jags to 2-1 in the conference, while SDSU improved to 9-15 overall and 1-2 in league play.

Both pitchers got off to strong starts as each retired the first six batters they faced, before South Dakota State struck first in the third.

The Jackrabbits loaded the bases with one out in the third thanks to three singles, but Jocelyn Oppenhuis put the Jags one out away from getting out of the jam with a strikeout of Marlee Petersen. During the next at-bat, however, Oppenhuis hit Alex Landon in the arm to push across a run for SDSU.

The Jags threatened in the bottom of the third receiving a lead-off single from Angela Bartucci and a single from Jazmine Pedrotti, but Bartucci was thrown out at third trying to advance on the Pedrotti single for the first out. From there, a strike out and a ground out ended the inning.

South Dakota State remained in front, 1-0, through four innings, before pushing across four runs on four hits in the fifth to open a 5-0 advantage.

IUPUI was able to get one of those runs back in the fifth and it all started when Eryn Dillon reached first with one out when she was hit by a pitch. After Dillon moved to second on a ground ball, a fielding error on a sharply hit ground ball from Pedrotti allowed Dillon to score from second to cut the Jags deficit to 5-1.

However, the Jackrabbits tacked on insurance runs in the sixth and seventh, while IUPUI only could put two runners on by virtue of a walk in the sixth and a single in the seventh. Both of those runners failed to score resulting in SDSU winning the series finale, 7-1.

The Jags continue their lengthy homestand on Wednesday, March 20, when they welcome local rival Butler to the IUPUI Softball Complex for a 4 p.m. start.