Box Scores: Game 1 / Game 2

Indiana (Pa.) — The 13th-ranked Indiana (Pa.) Crimson Hawks got two tough battles from an up-and-coming Millersville softball team on Saturday afternoon, but in the end the pitching of Erin Holloway and clutch hitting paved the way for 8-1 and 3-2 IUP wins at Podbielski Field in Indiana.

Game two was a back-and-forth affair that ended up going 12 innings after IUP's Dee Eppinger knocked in the tying run in the bottom of the seventh on a groundout. Millersville (14-17) had its best chance to take the lead in extras in the eighth inning. Jamie Mostko led off with a single and was replaced on the basepaths by Sarah Signore. Signore would get to second on a sacrifice, but was nailed at third base trying to tag-up on Allison Chew's fly out.

Despite an NCAA rule that places a runner on second base at the start of extra innings from the 10th inning on, neither team could break through until the 12th. The Crimson Hawks (26-3) got a single, a sacrifice bunt, and a walk to load the bases before Kristen Tunno's single brought in Marissa Leslie with the winning run.

The Marauders grabbed leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in their longest game since 2005. Casey Coker singled in Chew in the third and Amy Kossyk picked up a sacrifice fly in the sixth to give Millersville its only runs in the contest. The two teams combined for just 19 hits in 75 at-bats. Alicia Hughes (4-5) took the loss for the Black and Gold, but threw the entire 11.1 innings. Hughes allowed only nine hits to the 41 batters she faced. She struck out one and walked two in the longest outing of her short career.

Holloway, who also picked up the win in Saturday's early game, came on in the fifth inning and ended up throwing 7.2 innings of three-hit ball. The junior improved to 16-0 on the year by striking out seven and walking none.

Offensively, Millersville got two hits apiece from Motsko and Jill Golomboski. Eight of the nine Marauders in the starting lineup registered at least one hit. Lindsay Hosier moved to within nine stolen bases of tying Millersville's single-season record of 25. Hosier swiped bases 15 and 16 in the game and has not been caught stealing yet this season.

MU fell to 8-10 in extra inning games since 2005. Millersville fell 2-1 to East Stroudsburg on Mar. 26, 2005, in 10 innings, tand marked he last time an MU softball game went at least 10 innings until Saturday.

The Crimson Hawks had a much easier go of it in the opener. Their three-through-seven hole hitters combined to go 9-for-15 with seven RBIs. Eppinger and Stefanie Poates both had two-RBI games, with Poates picking up her pair on a fourth inning home run off of Signore (6-5).

Signore did manage to pick up two of the Marauders' four hits in game one, while Ally Homa drove in the visitors' only run with a double in the fifth.

Holloway went the distance in the circle for IUP, which ran its winning streak to 11 with the sweep. Holloway struck out eight while allowing four hits. Coupled with her performance in game two, the Crimson Hawks' ace threw 14.2 innings on the afternoon.

Millersville won't have much time to mull over its tough trip out west. The Marauders are back in action on Monday afternoon with a doubleheader at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, which begins at 3 p.m.