WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The IUP softball team rode a dominant starting pitching effort from Kendall Young in game one before the offense raced past D'Youville in a run-rule victory on Thursday in Florida.
 
IUP (13-5) posted a walkoff win with a Tess Smiley double in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring pinch runner Sara Tailford. The teams combined for just seven hits in the contest as Kendall Young racked up her sixth victory of the season.
 
The Hawks pushed across nine runs through the opening two innings against D'Youville, taking control early.
 
Game One: IUP 1, Bloomsburg 0
Young carried a perfect game into the fourth inning in the top outing of her brief collegiate career. The Hawks had four hits from four different players, struggling early against Bloomsburg pitcher Callie Sowers.
 
IUP handed Sowers her first loss of the season as she moved to 7-1 on the year. Paige Truax broke up a no-hit bid from Sowers in the with a leadoff single.
 
With two outs, Jordan Sylvia punched a single to right. With Tailford coming in to run, Smiley lifted a double for the lone run of the contest.
 
Game Two: IUP 13, D'Youville 2
Sylvia, Truax and Jaycee Haidze had multiple hits in the game for IUP, which drew 11 walks in the contest. Sylvia finished with three RBI and six different IUP batters scored two runs in the victory.
 
In the circle, Elizabeth Kasper limited the damage with just two earned runs in five innings. She allowed nine hits on the day, but kept D'Youville at bay aisde from a home run in the third.
 
IUP worked a patient approach early, drawing four walks in the initial five batters. Walks to Truax, Delaney Patella and Tailford brought home a run with the bases loaded in the first. Haidze produced the lone run-producing hit of the inning for the Hawks, making it a 3-0 game.
 
A Sylvia homer widened the margin to 6-0 at the onset of the second. Tailford blew the game open with a two-run double in the second for a 9-0 margin before Sylvia added a two-run single of her own in the fourth.
 
Sylvia's second knock lifted IUP ahead 12-2 before Smiley raced home on a groundout from Truax for the 13-2 final margin.
  
Up Next
IUP closes out The Spring Games with a doubleheader on Friday, March 15 against Wayne State (1:45 p.m.) and Saint Anselm (4:00 p.m.).
 
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For coverage of the IUP softball program, follow the Crimson Hawks on X (Twitter) and Instagram @IUPsoftball and online at IUPathletics.com.