KENNESAW, Ga. – A Kennesaw State error helped the IUPUI softball team score one run in the first, and that was all
Brooke Boetjer would need as she tossed a complete-game shutout leading the Jaguars to a 4-0 victory in their first game of the Phyllis Rafter Memorial Tournament.
The win upped the Jags record to 3-2, while the Owls dropped to 3-2 on the season.
Boetjer went the distance for the third time this season, and the Jags played great defense behind her. The junior right-hander struck out two, but she forced 12 ground outs and seven fly outs while giving up just three singles.
Offensively, the first five in the order all registered hits with
Ali Mosier driving in a team-high two runs late on her first home run of the season.
IUPUI struck in the first thanks to a Kennesaw State error and some timely two-out hitting, and that would be the formula for the Jaguars early on.
Sarah Lawrence reached base with one out in the first on a fielding error, and after a ground out moved her to second base,
Eryn Dillon brought her home with a RBI single to left to put the Jags on the scoreboard first.
Boetjer retired the Owls in order in the first two innings before her offense would add a run to the lead. In the third, an error by the KSU shortstop on a
Morgan Schlobohm grounder put Schlobohm on first to start the inning. After stealing second, Schlobohm remained there following a fly out and a strike out, but she scored on a RBI double from
Roni Patterson to boost the IUPUI lead to 2-0.
The Owls best chance to score came in the fifth when back-to-back singles put runners on first and second with one out, but Boetjer kept the lead in tact forcing a ground out and a fly out to end the threat.
Both teams went down in order in the sixth, and then Mosier doubled the Jaguars cushion with a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh to make it 4-0.
Boetjer then quickly set down the side in the seventh to finish off the victory.
IUPUI returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 14, when it takes on No. 5 Kentucky and Southern Illinois. The Jags and Wildcats will start at 11 a.m., before IUPUI and Southern Illinois begin at 3 p.m.
