GAME RESULTS
Evansville 4, Saint Louis 3
Saint Louis 11, Valparaiso 0 (5 innings)
Thursday, February 9, 2023
The Dome at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex
Des Plaines, Ill.
 
THE BASICS
•Saint Louis split on Opening Day of the 2023 softball campaign, defeating Valparaiso 11-0 in five innings following a 4-3 loss to Evansville at the DePaul Dome Tournament.
•Kelsey Etling led the Billikens, going 5-for-6 and driving in four runs.
 
GAME 1 – HOW IT HAPPENED
•Saint Louis answered Evansville's two runs in the top of the first inning with two of its own in the bottom half. The first run crossed on a passed ball, and Chloe Rhine tied the score with a two-out RBI double.
•Evansville regained the lead in the fourth, and the Billikens pulled even again on Gabbie Kowalik's fifth-inning RBI groundout.
•Evansville tallied what proved to be the winning run in the top of the seventh.
 
GAME 1 – BILLIKEN NOTABLES
•Etling recorded two singles, while Natalie Sullivan, Jane Kaniecki, Cami Newbanks and Jocelyn Abbott collected a single apiece.
•Chloe Wendling went the distance in the circle. She struck out seven and did not issue a walk.
•Sullivan, Rhine and Abbott each walked twice.
•Kendall Johnson had two sacrifices.
 
GAME 2 – HOW IT HAPPENED
•The Bills scored all the runs they would need in the top of the second inning. Etling made it 1-0 with an RBI single, and Rhine swiped home on a double steal.
•Saint Louis struck for four runs in the third. Kowalik swatted an RBI triple, Kaniecki singled in a run, Etling plated a run with an infield single, and Johnson delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 6-0.
•Three runs crossed for SLU in the fourth as Cami Newbanks drew a bases-loaded walk and Etling doubled in two.
•In the fifth, Kowalik's second triple of the game – tying a Saint Louis record – knocked in a run, and she scored on a wild pitch to conclude the Billikens' offensive outburst.
 
GAME 2 – BILLIKEN NOTABLES
•Kowalik added a double to join Etling as Billikens with three hits.
•Taylor Hochman tossed four innings of two-hit ball to register the victory. She fanned three and walked only one.
•Sullivan picked up two hits.
•Newbanks doubled and walked twice, and Rhine singled.
•Kaili Hanner pitched a perfect fifth inning.
•Allie Marietta drew two walks.
 
UP NEXT
The Billikens take on host team DePaul Friday at 5:30 p.m.