Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Softball team finished their first day at the Raising Cane's Festival on Friday, February 16. The Lions split the day with a loss to Arkansas Tech, 4-0, followed by a 10-6 win over Southern Nazarene.
Missouri Southern vs. Arkansas Tech
L, 4-0
The Golden Suns struck first with two runs in the top of the second off of three Lion defensive errors.
Katie Gray returned with a double in the bottom of the second, but was ultimately left on base as the Lions trailed 2-0. Both teams were scoreless until the Golden Suns added one run in the top of the sixth off a wild pitch. The Lions tried returning in the bottom half of the sixth with a
Carsen Tinkler single to right field and
Emily Perry reaching on a fielding error, but both were left on base to end the inning. The Golden Suns scored one more unanswered run in the seventh to beat the Lions 4-0.
Kiki Pickens (3-1) picked up her first loss for the Lions and pitched all 7.0 innings and gave up five hits and one earned run while striking out eight batters in the 30 batters that she faced.Â
Missouri Southern vs. Southern Nazarene
W, 10-6
The Lions got hot to start the game, scoring four runs in the top of the first with a wild pitch scoring
Kylee Jacks who doubled to get on base.
Kara Amos drove in two RBIs with a single up the middle of the field, followed by an RBI double from
Peyton Hawkins to give the Lions the 4-0 lead. The Crimson Storm answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the first.
Carsen Tinkler and
Emily Perry both had an RBI double in the top of the second to grow the Lions lead to 6-2, to which the Storm could not respond. The Crimson Storm brought the game back to even at 6-6 in the bottom of the third with four runs off of an RBI and two errors.
After a single by
Kylee Jacks,
Emily Perry singled to left field to drive in Jacks for her second RBI for the game and a 7-6 lead after four innings of play. After a scoreless fifth inning, the Lions added two unanswered runs in the sixth from RBIs from
Kara Amos and
Peyton Hawkins to give the Lions a 9-6 lead. After
Emily Perry had her fourth hit for a perfect 4/4 day at the plate with her second double,
Katie Gray singled to left field to drive in Perry. The Crimson Storm was unable to respond as the Lions won 10-6.
Kara Amos (1-1) got the win for the Lions, pitching the final 4.0 innings and giving up only one hit and zero runs while striking out two batters of the 13 she faced.
Up Next
The Missouri Southern Softball team will compete in day two of the Raising Cane's Festival as they face Ouachita Baptist (4:00 PM) and Oklahoma Baptist (6:00 PM) in Piedmont, Oklahoma at Piedmont High School.
