Evansville, Ind. – The UW-Parkside softball team got off to a fast start and nearly rode it all the way to a Great Lakes Valley Conference sweep at Southern Indiana. The Rangers scored three first inning runs in the opener en route to a 5-1 victory. The Screaming Eagles used a late rally in the second game to earn a come-from-behind 5-4 win.
 
The Rangers will finish their weekend trip with a visit to Owensboro, Ky., on Sunday afternoon. First pitch against Kentucky Wesleyan is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. Parkside will wrap up its 2012 campaign with a non-conference doubleheader against Saint Xavier on Tuesday at the Case Softball Complex.
 
Game One (Box Score)
The Rangers ambushed the Screaming Eagles in the opening inning for their first road win of the year. Ashley Nowdomski started the game with a single and moved up when Lauren Vitiello drew a walk. Kirsten Luevano made it 1-0 as she bounced a single through the hole to score Nowdomski.
 
Bridget Walters followed that up with a base hit to load the bases with one out. Natalie Shank made sure the opportunity wasn't wasted when she singled to left field. Vitiello and Luevano both came around to score to stake the Rangers to a 3-0 lead.
 
With Kelynn Sporer cruising in the circle, she decided to help her own cause at the plate. After a two-out hit by Shank in the fifth, Sporer stepped up and hammered a two-run homer to left field. That swing gave Parkside a 5-0 lead and was more than enough for the freshman.
 
USI scratched across an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh but Sporer induced a game-ending ground out from Elizabeth Prince to preserve the 5-1 victory.
 
The win was Sporer's third of the season as she tossed all seven innings allowing just one unearned run on five hits. She struck out four and walked only one.
 
She also joined Nowdomski, Walters, and Shank with two hits in the opener. The battery of Sporer and Shank also recorded two RBI a piece. The Rangers out-hit the Screaming Eagles, 9-5 in the contest.
 
Game Two (Box Score)
The night cap was a back-and-forth affair with USI striking the final blow to escape with the split. They opened the scoring with a run in the second but Kristin Kleinmeyer stranded the bases loaded to keep it a one-run game.
 
Kleinmeyer then followed Sporer's lead in the third to put the Rangers in front. Sporer doubled to start the inning before Kleinmeyer came to the plate and launched a two-run shot to left. That gave Parkside a 2-1 lead.
 
Solo home runs in the third and fifth for the Screaming Eagles put USI back ahead, 3-2. The Ranger offense however wasn't done.
 
Nowdomski and Lexi Sotiros started the sixth inning with consecutive singles. Lauren Vitiello recaptured the lead with a double to the gap in left center. That plated both runners to make it 4-3 Parkside.
 
That lead stood until the bottom of the seventh when USI made their comeback. A lead-off home run tied the game and chased Kleinmeyer. The Rangers then committed an error and a wild pitch to put the winning run on third. Kristen O'Haver then ended the game with a single back through the middle to give the Screaming Eagles the walk-off victory.
 
Hayley Schneider absorbed the loss allowing an unearned run. The Rangers had six different players record a hit with Kleinmeyer and Vitiello driving in two.