PEORIA, Ill. - Spalding's softball team made it through the semifinals of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Tournament with a 3-2 win, 8-inning win over the Panthers of Greenville University.

SPALDING 3, GREENVILLE 2
The game didn't start in favor of the Golden Eagles when the Panthers' Salas hit a two RBI homerun that brought herself and another runner home at the top of the first inning.

Spalding broke through Greenville's strong defense during the bottom of the third inning. Karlee Terral lead off for the Golden Eagles and got onto first by a fielders error by the Greenville shortstop. Terral then made it home when Madison Loechle hit an RBI single to center field to bring Terral home with two outs.

Jenni Beasley was the second runner that scored for the Golden Eagles. Beasley was the pinch runner for Hayleigh Gnagie who led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to center. A Kaleigh Franklin-Brooks RBI double scored the tying run. With the game knotted up at 2-2 the semifinal tilt went to extra innings.

Spalding held off the Panthers in the top of the eighth as a fly out, a ground out, and a strike out swinging set down three batters in succession. The fly out was made on a diving catch from Grayce Marcum. When it was time for the Golden Eagle offense, SU wasted no time getting to work. Loechle nabbed a lead off double to end up in scoring postions. Score is what she did when she scored off of a walk-off RBI triple from Marcum to end the game.

GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES

• Both Madison Loechle and Grayce Marcum lead Spalding at the plate and went two-for-four. Three Golden Eagles lead with one RBI each. Those batters were  Loechle, Marcum, and Kaleigh Franklin-Brooks
• Michaela Ferman was the winning pitcher for Spalding. She played the complete game and allowed just two earned runs while striking out five.
• Marcum currently leads Division III in triples per game with 12 and also in triples per game with 0.33

UP NEXT FOR SPALDING
The Golden Eagles continue their conference run at 3:30 p.m. EST in Peoria, Ill. in the winners bracket of the elimination round.