Freshman Elise Oleson drew a full-count, bases-loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning that propelled Cornell’s softball team to a thrilling 6-5 victory over Indiana Tech Wednesday afternoon.
The Rams fell 9-1 in five innings to Montreat (N.C.) earlier in the day and finished their season-opening Florida trip with a 2-2 record.
Cornell knocked off an Indiana Tech squad (15-4) that won 41 games a year ago and reached the NAIA World Series. The Rams led 5-1 through three innings, although the contest boiled down to Cornell’s final at-bat with the scored knotted at 5-5 in the seventh.
Lilly Dierkes started the rally with a leadoff single. Pinch runner Mary Puffett moved to second base on a passed ball, advanced to third on a hit by Peyton Souhrada and trotted home with the winning run on Oleson’s walk.
Oleson went 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBIs. Souhrada also had two hits and scored one run.
Freshman Hannah Edwards pitched the final 2.1 innings in relief to record the win. She scattered two hits and allowed one run.
In Wednesday’s opener, the Rams were limited to three hits against NAIA’s Montreat (14-3). Addie Bowman singled and scored Cornell’s lone run in the top of the first.