INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI's three seniors -
Megan Cory,
Eryn Dillon and
Emili Escamilla - couldn't have asked for a better Senior Day as the Jaguars took two from Omaha to extend their winning streak to eight.
Cory, Dillon and Escamilla were all honored prior to the start of the game for their contributions to the program, and all three have had career years helping the Jags improve to 30-12 overall and 9-5 in the conference with the wins.
While the seniors stole the show, a pair of juniors had big days for the Jaguars.
Brooke Boetjer earned both wins against the Mavericks upping her record to 18-9, with her 18 wins tying the single-season school-record for wins in a season, and
Ali Mosier belted two home runs giving her a school-record 14 this season.
Even though IUPUI ultimately picked up two wins on the day, the day didn't get off to the best of starts as Omaha scored a run in each of its first three at-bats in Game 1 offsetting a lone Jag run in the bottom of the second courtesy of a triple from
Maggie Good and a RBI double from
Taylor Chitwood.
However, the Jags would strike for three runs in the third inning despite failing to pick up a hit.
Delilah Wright started the inning with a walk, and moved to second two batters later when
Morgan Schlobohm reached on a fielder's choice.
Roni Patterson walked to load the bases, and a wild pitch during the next plate appearance moved Patterson and Schlobohm up a base while scoring Wright. A sacrifice fly from Dillon plated the second run of the inning, before the Jags finished off the scoring with Patterson scoring on a passed ball.
Omaha looked to seize the momentum back in the top of the fourth when it loaded the bases off Boetjer with nobody out. Boetjer got behind in the count in the next pair of at-bats, but she worked her way out of trouble getting a force out at home and a line out double play to keep IUPUI in front.
The rest of the way, Boetjer allowed just one base runner and she retired the final seven Mavericks in order to finish off the 4-3 win.
Boetjer continued to roll in Game 2 retiring 12 of the first 14 batters she faced, and her offense would take care of the rest.
Mosier led off the game with a solo home run to left-center to get the Jags in front, 1-0, and an inning later she hit a grand slam to right-center to boost the lead to 5-0. Good completed the scoring in the second with a RBI double upping the lead to 6-0.
The Mavericks cut the deficit in half with three runs in the seventh, but Escamilla forced a fly out and a line out to finish off the 6-3 Game 2 win.
The Jags and Mavs are scheduled to play the series finale at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 25, at the IUPUI Softball Complex. Rain and thunderstorms are expected in the Indianapolis area on Saturday, so fans should check back with IUPUIJags.com for possible schedule changes.