Emporia, Kan. -- The Missouri Southern softball team split a pair of games today at the first of two MIAA crossovers slated to be held this season. The Lions defeated SBU in game one 6-1, but fell to Emporia State, 14-3 in game two. All games were played at ESU. 

The Lions (8-16-1) got on the board with three runs in the second inning. Megan Roark doubled off the right field wall to start the inning and Krista Bomak walked behind her. Both runners moved up on a passed ball and later scored when Whitney Clute doubled down the left field line. Clute would then score on an RBI single from Natalie Nelson. 

Roark got the Lions another run in the third when she singled up the middle, but the centerfielder booted the ball allowing Angie Turner to score. Turner had walked to lead off the inning. 

The Lions added two more runs in the fifth. Dawn Grass singled to lead off the inning and was pinch run for by Kiley Sibenaler. Angie Turner then doubled to right center to put runners at second and third. Bomak would drive them both home with a double to left center. 

SBU (9-10) scored a single run in the seventh. 

Bomak went 2-3 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored. Roark and Nelson had two hits each, while Clute drove in two and scored a run and Turner scored twice. 

Clute went the distance on the mound, scattering six hits and allowing just one un-earned run. 

The Lions ran into a hot hitting Emporia State team in the second game of the day. The Hornets (18-7) scored six in the first and four in the second, while adding another four runs in the fourth. 

Southern put three on the board in the top of the fifth when Jessica Brooks hit a double to left center clearing the bases and scoring Breanna Volkmann, Logan Stapp and Brooke Hurley. 

Turner went 2-2 in the game while Brooks drove in three.

Southern will have a few days off before taking on Ouachita Baptist on Wednesday, March 24 in a neutral site double-header at Van Buren (Ark.) High School.