Indians score two in the bottom of the seventh to force their first extra-innings game all-season

LAWRENCE, Kan. –Led by the powerful bat of Samantha Robertson and the steady arm of Nicole Macias, the Indian softball team almost pulled out their first win of the year Saturday at Haskell Field, losing 5-4 in eight innings to Central Christian in the first game a doubleheader. HINU would drop the second game to the Lady Tigers, bringing their record to 0-27 on the year and 0-10 in MCAC play. CCC picked up only its fourth and fifth wins of the year, improving to 5-33 and 3-3 in the conference.

The first game was full of zero's until both teams plated two runs apiece in their respective innings. After falling behind 2-0, Christen Voice reached on an infield single, which set the stage for Robertson. The 5-9 junior stepped up to the plate with two outs and smacked her fifth homerun of the year off the left field foul pole to tie the contest up at two.

After the Tigers put together another two run rally in the top of the fifth, the Indians staged one of their own, with their backs against the wall in the bottom of the seventh. Down 4-2, Jahna Yuhn singled and Ashleigh Brown reached on an error. Then Christen Voice picked up her second hit of the day, scoring Yuhn and getting HINU within one. The game tying run would cross the plate after Nicole Macias singled to left, scoring Brown and leaving the game winning run just 60-feet away. Back-to-back strikeouts though would end the Purple and Gold threat and leave Voice stranded at third as the two teams headed for extra frames.

In the top of the eighth, Central Christian would answer quickly with no outs, right fielder Angela Jamison reached second on an error, then stole third and eventually scored the go ahead run on a passed ball to make it 5-4 Tigers. That one run margin would hold up for the visitors as they closed out Haskell with a double-play and then a line-out in the bottom half of the inning.

Going all eight innings in the loss for HINU was Nicole Macias, who gave up five runs on 13 hits, while striking out four. She was tagged with the hard luck loss after an effective 99 pitch outing.

"We didn't buckle under the pressure and we fought to make up the deficit," said Indian head coach Joe Bointy. "We had a few errors here and there and a couple of runs on each error are going to hurt us in the long run, so we have to learn to cut those out," he explained. "If we do that, we will be in a lot better shape in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings."

The second game was a different story for Bointy and his club as they fell behind early, 2-0 after the top of the first. Haskell would claw their way back though, scoring one run in the bottom of the first and another in the second. Unfortunately four-runs by the Tigers in the top of the second, two more in the third and an additional three in the fourth made it 11-2, heading to the home half of the fourth. HINU would answer their opponent's three-spot with four of their own in the bottom half of the frame, but would not score again as Central Christian completed the doubleheader sweep by the 11-5 score.

On the hook for the loss in game two for HINU was Kendall Calderon who went seven innings, giving up 11 runs on 11 hits. The righty tossed 99 pitches during her outing, walking one, and striking out two.

Haskell will next play Kansas Wesleyan University, whom they host in a doubleheader Sunday at Haskell Field. Game one is scheduled to get underway at 2 p.m., with game two to start approximately 30 minutes after the first one ends.