Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern softball program swept rival Pittsburg State 8-3 and 4-3 in eight innings to move into sole possession of first place in the MIAA regular season standings on Saturday Apr. 8th.

The Lions (28-7, 13-1 MIAA) were led by Emily Perry in game one going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and scoring twice, Josie Tofpi went 2-for-4 with three RBIs as Leighton Withers and Kara Amos had an RBI each. Bailey Lacy went 6.1 innings striking out three to earn her ninth win of the season and Avery Tallman finished the game with 0.2 innings and one strikeout in a non save situation.

In the first inning Southern got on the board with a Tofpi single up the middle scoring Perry and a Kara Amos single down the right field line scored Tofpi to give the Lions a 2-0 lead. In the fourth a Perry three run home run to center field scored Peyton Hawkins and Adrianna Young to make it 5-0.

Pittsburg State (22-14, 7-7 MIAA) got on the board in the sixth inning with two runs but in the bottom half a Tofpi double to right center scored Vargas and Sidnie Hurst with a Leighton Withers double to right center scoring Marybeth Dyson as the Lions cruised to an 8-3 win to begin the series.

Game two was led by Natalie Bates with six strikeouts in 7.1 innings of relief for her fifth win of the season, Perry had two RBIs as Tofpi and Katie Gray had an RBI.

In the first inning the Gorillas scored three runs before a Gray single through the right side scored Vargas making it 3-1 in favor of Pittsburg State. Southern scored the next runs of the game with a Perry two run home run to left field scoring Adrianna Young to tie it up 3-3. 

The Lions would have a chance to walk-off the game in the seventh inning with an inning opening walk by Withers but couldn't score her in the inning. In the eighth inning Bates got the Gorillas to go down in order before an Ashlynn Williams hit-by-pitch and advancement to second on a wild pitch led to a Young sacrifice bunt to advance Williams to third with one out. Pittsburg State would intentionally walk Perry before a fielders choice hit by Vargas resulted in the bases loaded with Tofpi coming to the plate, on teh first pitch Tofpi was hit-by-pitch to walk-off the game and claim the regular season sweep over rival Pittsburg State.

Up next for the Lions will be a home conference doubleheader against Washburn on Friday Apr. 14th at the Pat Lipira Softball Complex with first pitch set for 4:00pm.  Read Full Article