USF Splits with Taylor in Regular Season Finale; Secures No. 4 Seed in CL Tournament

UPLAND, Ind. - The University of Saint Francis (Ind.) softball team secured the No. 4 seed in the Crossroads League tournament after concluding the regular season with a doubleheader split at Taylor University on Monday, April 28.

After a hard-fought battle in the first game, the Cougars fell 7-5 in eight innings. USF rallied in game two to beat Taylor 14-5 in six innings. 

TAYLOR 7, SAINT FRANCIS 5 (8 INNINGS) 

• Abby Robakowski hit a home run to center field to put the Cougars up 1-0 in the top of the first inning. 
• The Trojans responded with an RBI double in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game up 1-1. 
• Taylor brought in three more runs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-1 lead. 
• In the top of the fourth inning, Brooklyn McCord singled through the left side to score Haylee Schott, cutting Taylor's lead to two runs. 
• With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Macie Dowd hit a two-run home run to left center to tie the game up. Anna Smith followed with an RBI double to right center to give Saint Francis a 5-4 lead. 
• Taylor scored again in the bottom of the seventh inning, tying the game at 5-5 and forcing the game into extra innings. 
• In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Trojans hit a walk-off home run to win game one by a final score of 7-5. 
• As a team, the Cougars recorded 11 hits and five walks. Robakowski went a perfect 4-4 from the plate in game one wth her 15th home run of the season, two runs scored, an RBI and a walk. Dowd hit 2-5 with a home run and two RBI, while Smith had an extra-base hit, an RBI and a sacrifice bunt. 
• Ellie Sauder struck out three batters and gave up only one walk and 10 hits in a complete game. 

SAINT FRANCIS 14, TAYLOR 5 (6 INNINGS) 

• Dowd opened game two with a home run over the center field fence to give Saint Francis an early 1-0 lead. 
• Taylor scored two runs in the bottom half of the first inning to grab a one-run lead. 
• The Cougars answered with an RBI single up the middle from Madyson Minnich to tie the game up 2-2 in the top of the third. 
• Saint Francis put together a big fifth inning, scoring 10 runs and taking a 10-2 lead. Dowd got the scoring started with a two-run homer to center field. Smith then hit an RBI single, followed by a bases-loaded walk from Sam Baker and a sacrifice fly from Kortney Surber. Paiton Iliff brought in three more runs with a home run to left center. Dowd had her second hit of the inning, an RBI double, followed by an RBI single from Minnich to make it a 10-run game. 
• After the Trojans scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Iliff hit her second homer of the day, bringing the score to 14-5. 
• Saint Francis kept Taylor off the board in the bottom half of the inning, cutting the game short as the Cougars won 14-5 in six innings.
• USF had 15 hits and six walks in game two. Dowd hit 3-4 with a double, two home runs, four RBI and two runs scored. Iliff hit 2-5 with two home runs, five RBI and two runs scored. Minnich went 2-3 at the plate with two RBI and a stolen base. 
• Mady Tompkins got the win in the circle after throwing five innings, while Kennedy Baioni threw an inning in relief. 

USF softball concludes the regular season with an overall record of 27-19 and a Crossroads League record of 20-16. The Cougars secured the No. 4 seed in the league tournament and will await the best remaining seed from the play-in games on April 29 between Taylor and Spring Arbor or Mount Vernon and Grace. 

Cougar fans can stay updated on all events and recaps with USF Athletics by visiting saintfranciscougars.com.