FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech softball team began the 2021 season over the weekend with four home games at Warrior Park. Playing for the first time in 350 days on Friday, the Warriors swept Goshen College, coached by 2015 graduate Julaclare Plezbert, with 3-1 and 5-3 (six innings) wins. Tech returned to action on Saturday and defeated the University of Saint Francis, 4-3, before falling to Saint Xavier University, 3-0.
The Warriors got the offense going early as
Payton Robinson led off the bottom of the first with a walk and promptly stole second.
Amanda Shonka drove her in two batters later with a single through the right side of the infield. Tech found themselves with the bases loaded and one just two batters later, but couldn't push any more runners across the plate.
Goshen responded with a run of their own in the top of the second, but that would be the lone blemish on Shonka's pitching line as the senior.
Meghan Berlin put the Warriors up for good with a solo home run in the fourth while Robinson made it a 3-1 game in the fifth, providing Shonka with plenty of run support. Shonka scatted four hits across her seven innings of work and needed just 93 pitches for the complete game.
Tech's offense gave them another early lead in game two as Emma Kelly drove in
Meagan Barton in the bottom of the first. The Warriors added two more runs in each of the next two consecutive innings thanks to an
Alivia Doyle RBI double, a wild pitch, a Berlin RBI single and a throwing error from the Maple Leafs. Goshen would score three in the fourth, but
Hannah Middlebrooks would work out of the jam to preserve the 5-3 lead and the visitors never threatened again.
Saturday's opener against Saint Francis saw the Cougars go up 1-0 in the third thanks to a solo shot, but Shonka tied the game in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single. Tech's offense put up a three-spot in the fifth as they took advantage of three passed balls, two errors and a wild pitch to take a 4-2 lead. USF cut the deficit to 4-3 in the sixth, but stranded the game-tying run in the top of the seventh as Tech won its third straight game.
Saint Xavier scored all three runs against Tech in the top of the third thanks to a triple, two singles, an error and a fielder's choice, and that was all the Cougars pitching staff would need as they scatted seven hits across seven innings and got of two situations with runners at third and four more with runners at second to hand the Warriors their first loss on the young season.
Tech (3-1) is set to return to action on Saturday as they host No. 5-ranked Marian University in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. from Warrior Park.
