SOMERS, Wis. – The UW-Parkside softball team swept preseason GLVC favorite Southern Indiana for the first time since 2009 on Saturday, taking both games by a score of 6-5 at Case Softball Complex to earn its second straight conference sweep of the season.
 
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Parkside improved to 14-12 overall and 5-3 in the conference while the Screaming Eagles, who entered Saturday's game receiving votes in the latest DII Coaches Poll, fall to 14-11 and 3-3 in the league. The Green & White will welcome in McKendree on Sunday at noon and 2 p.m. looking for the team's third straight sweep.
 
Game one looked like it was all but over for the Rangers, but a wild four-run bottom of the seventh inning capped off by a Morgan Sikon walkoff single ended it for Parkside.
 
USI plated a pair of runs in the first inning to start hot and took a 3-0 lead after the top of the fourth inning. The Rangers answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a two-run homer by Madison Manders, her first of the season. USI scored one insurance run in each the sixth and seventh innings to take a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, setting up the Parkside magic in the bottom half.
 
Danielle Crockett opened with a double down the left field line and Manders singled to put runners on the corners. Allison Hausl, who pitched the complete game and earned the win, singled up the middle to score Crockett and make it 5-3. After a strikeout, Kellie Fenza laid down a perfect bunt single to load the bases and Megan Aliverti hit a clutch two-run double to tie it up 5-5, setting the table for Sikon's bloop single up the middle that ended it in walkoff fashion.
 
Aliverti finished 3-for-4 with two RBI while Manders went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs and Crockett went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs. Hausl earned the win, going all 7.0 innings with three strikeouts to improve to 5-5 this season.
 
Game two was more of the same for Parkside without the bottom of the seventh drama, as USI took an early 4-0 lead and the Rangers were forced to play from behind again. After the first inning, USI scored four runs while the Rangers plated one on a Crockett RBI single to score Jessica Shields.
 
The Green & White came back to take the lead with back-to-back two-run innings in the third and fourth. In the third, Sikon drilled a double to center field and Aliverti came in to score on an error during the play. Adrien Hall doubled to center to score Sikon in the third and Fenza hit a two-run single in the fourth to make it 5-4 Rangers.
 
USI tied it up in the fifth inning off a solo home run by Allison Schubert, who hit three home runs on the day, but Parkside took the lead back in the sixth off an RBI groundout by Fenza that scored Shields, the game-winning run at the time.
 
Sikon went 2-for-4 with a double two RBI and Hall finished 2-for-3 with a double. Shields stole three bases to bring her conference-leading total to 25 this season. Freshman Alyssa Hrncar earned the win for the Rangers, pitching a complete-game with eight hits to improve to 9-4.