Bentonville, Ark. - The Missouri Southern softball program completed the second tournament of the season in the Alvy Early Memorial Classic with games yesterday and today.
The Lions (6-3) began the tournament off with a 4-0 win over Southern Nazarene (2-3) as
Avery Tallman picked up her fourth win of the season with seven shutout innings with only two hits allowed as
Yazmin Vargas hit her first home run of the season while going 1-for-1 with three runs scored and a stolen base. In the first inning
Josie Tofpi got an RBI single to score Vargas to begin the scoring, Vargas would score in the third inning off an error by the Storm to make it a 2-0 lead after three innings.
Ashlynn Williams scored the third run of the game following a
Katie Gray bases loaded walk and the home run by Vargas in the sixth ended the scoring for the game at 4-0.
Game two saw the Lions and Harding (5-2) go into extras as
Ashlynn Williams had two homers and
Leighton Withers joined in with her third home run of the season in an 8-7 ten inning loss. Vargas got the scoring started in the first inning and an
Emily Perry RBI single scored Withers for an early 2-0 lead by Southern. Harding got one back in the second inning but an
Adrianna Young RBI single scored
Grace Parrott to make it 3-1 in the bottom half of the inning.
The Bisons got another run across in the third and in the bottom half of the inning a Williams homer for the Lions made it a two run lead again, 4-2. Harding got five runs across in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead that stood until dramatic back-to-back homers by Withers and Williams tied it up 7-7 in the seventh inning. In the eighth inning the Lions almost ended it with runners on second and third but couldn't push across the deciding run and after a scoreless eighth and ninth innings the international runner was placed on second to begin the tenth inning with the Bisons able to score to make it an 8-7 score.
In game three the Lions scored early and often to pave the way for an 8-3 win over Southeastern Oklahoma (3-5). Tallman picked up her fifth win of the season with six innings of work and six strikeouts while
Josie Tofpi and
Emily Perry hit homers and
Kate Thurman picked up 3 RBIs. Tofpi got the scoring started in the first inning with a three run home run to jump out to a 3-0 lead, Thurman had RBI singles in back-to-back at bats and picked up three RBIs from those hits to make it a 6-0 lead after five innings. Southern would get two more runs in the sixth thanks to Perry's first home run as a Lion that extended the lead to 8-0. Southeastern Oklahoma got two runs across in the sixth inning to stave off the run rule and scored another run in the seventh for the 8-3 final score.
Game four was a low scoring affair between the Lions and Illinois Springfield (2-3) as the Prairie Stars nabbed a 3-2 walk-off win. Grace Parrot got her first home run of the season in the third inning and an
Abby DeSanto bases loaded walk scored
Ashlynn Williams to make it 2-0 after four innings. Illinois Springfield scored in the fourth and sixth innings to make it a 2-2 tie heading to the seventh inning and following a scoreless top half of the seventh for the Lions, UIS got the winning run and claimed a 3-2 walk-off win.
Up next for the Lions will be the MIAA/GAC Challenge from Friday the 17th - Sunday the 19th in three different cities. Friday will be in Edmond, Okla. with the Lions set to play Arkansas Tech at 10:30am and East Central at 1:00pm with both games played at Gerry Pinkston Stadium. Saturday will be in Bethany, Okla. with the Lions set to play Southeastern Oklahoma at 10:00am and Southern Nazarene at 3:00pm with both games played at Tere Weber Field. Sunday will have just one game at Yukon, Okla. High School with the Lions set to play Southern Arkansas at 1:00pm
