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INDIANAPOLIS – The IUPUI softball team opened its final home series of the 2014 season on Friday, but things didn't go as planned as in-state rival IPFW swept Friday's doubleheader at the IUPUI Softball Complex.

The pair of losses dipped IUPUI to 22-21 on the season and 7-9 in Summit League play, while IPFW improved to 37-13 overall and 12-4 in the conference.

IPFW's Miranda Kramer came into the weekend as one of the top pitchers in the Summit League ranking in the Top 3 in ERA while leading the conference in strikeouts, and she was on top of her game in the opener.

The IPFW offense scored two runs on seven hits over the first five innings, with one of those runs coming by a solo homer in the second, to give Kramer the early cushion.

Kramer hit two batters, but did not give up a hit through five innings, before Eryn Dillon picked up a lead-off single to start the sixth. Unfortunately, a strikeout and a double play eliminated that threat to keep the Jags behind by two runs entering the seventh.

Nikki Thomas retired the Mastodons in order in the seventh giving the Jags offense one last chance to make a rally. Roni Patterson drew a lead-off walk to get the inning started, but the Jaguars brought the tying run to the plate three times only to see Kramer pick up three strike outs to end the game.

Jocelyn Oppenhuis earned the start in the opener for the Jags and went 5.0 innings giving up two runs and striking out six, but Kramer went the distance yielding one hit and striking out 15 batters to get the win.

Following the tough loss, things got harder for the Jags in Game 2 as IPFW stormed out of the gates scoring four runs in the first and two in the second to take a 6-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second, the Jaguars offense started to click as they looked to get back into the game. Angela Bartucci led off the inning with a double, before scoring during the next at-bat on a single from Lindsey Richards. A fielding error two batters later put runners on first and second with one out, and a Morgan Schlobohm single loaded the bases for Patterson. While Patterson didn't pick up a hit, she did drive in a run and move the runners on base up a bag with a RBI ground out to cut the deficit to 6-2. Maggie Good added a two-run single immediately following the ground out to cap off the four-run second to inch the Jags within two runs, 6-4.

Both teams were shut down in the third and the fourth before the Mastodons added a run in the fifth to boost their lead to 7-4.

The Jags went down in order in the fifth and sixth, and after Emili Escamilla got out of the seventh without giving up a run, IUPUI came to the plate in the seventh looking for some heroics to at least escape with a split.

With one out in the seventh, Patterson hit her team-leading ninth home run, a solo shot to left-center field, to bring the Jags within two runs, 7-5. A strike out brought the Jaguars down to their final out, but walks to Sarah Lawrence and Megan Cory, and a bloop single from Bartucci loaded the bases. IPFW then went to their bench to bring in Kramer, and while she didn't add to her strike out total from Game 1, she did force a pop out to give her team the 7-5 win.

IPFW and IUPUI conclude their series on Saturday, May 3, when the teams will meet at the IUPUI Softball Complex at 2 p.m. Saturday is Senior Day for the Jags as six seniors – Bartucci, Oppenhuis, Thomas, Jessica Lam, Lauren Cooper and Richards – will play for the final time in front of the home crowd. All six seniors will be honored prior to the start of the game.