Springfield, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Softball team hit the road to take on the Panthers of Drury for a final non-conference doubler-header on Tuesday, March 5. The Lions split the day with a 8-0 loss in game one followed by a 14-5 victory in game two. The Lions advance to 16-5 (0-0 MIAA) on the season.
Missouri Southern vs. Drury - Game One
L, 8-0 /5 inn.
Both teams began the game with shutout defenses, not allowing any hits until the bottom of the third where a batter was left on base for the Panthers. The game was 0-0 going into the fifth inning where
Katie Gray and
Kara Amos both got on base from a walk and a hit by pitch with zero outs, but the Panthers defense picked up three outs before either could reach home as the scoreless game went into the bottom half of the fifth. The Panthers turned the game around dramatically and scored eight straight runs on zero outs to defeat the Lions by run-rule, 8-0.
Kiki Pickens (5-3) picked up the loss for the Lions and pitched 4.0 innings and gave up four hits and two earned runs while striking out two of the 18 batters she faced.
Missouri Southern vs. Drury - Game Two
W, 14-5
The Lions turned things around quickly in game two, beginning the top of the first with a bases loaded walk to score a run followed by a grand slam home run from
Kara Amos to give the Lions a 5-0 lead early. The Panthers were able to return with two unanswered runs in the next two innings to bring the Lions lead to 5-2 after three innings. The Lions put together another big inning in the fourth, stringing together three runs from a
Kylee Jacks RBI triple, a
Yazmin Vargas RBI triple and a
Taylor Nuckolls RBI single to give the Lions a 8-2 lead. After the Panthers added one run in the bottom of the fourth,
Carsen Tinkler got things started in the fifth with a two-run home run to left field which got the Lions bats in action once again with a
Abby DeSanto sacrifice RBI and a
Katie Gray RBI single to bring the Lions lead up to 12-3. The Panthers ended the sixth inning with two more runs to bring the game to a seventh inning. The Lions added on their big lead with two sacrifice-flies from
Yazmin Vargas and
Abby DeSanto to give the Lions a 14-5 lead with a chance to win. One Panther was able to reach base on an error, but the Lions held the Panthers from scoring to win game two 14-5.
Kara Amos (3-1) picked up the win for the Lions and pitched 4.0 innings and gave up one hit and one earned run while striking out seven of the 17 batters that she faced.Â
Up Next
The Missouri Southern Softball team will be back in Joplin to host back-to-back conference double-headers against Lincoln on Saturday, March 9 at 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM and Central Missouri on Sunday, March 10 at 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM at Pat Lipira Softball Complex.
