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WARRENSBURG, Mo. - For the first time since 2009 and the eighth time overall, Central Missouri softball has won the MIAA regular season championship.
UCM swept Lindenwood (17-35, 6-20) 2-1, 7-2 Saturday afternoon to improve to 39-13 on the season and 21-5 in the MIAA. Both totals are the most under Head Coach
Susan Anderson. The 39 regular season wins are the most since 1995 when the Jennies won 49 games and the 20 MIAA wins are a program-best.
The Jennies also celebrated senior day, with an on-field ceremony to recognize senior athletes
Amanda Nally,
Jakki Prater,
Katie Shockley, and
Jessica Wilkes along with graduate assistant coach
Kelli Kurka.
Game One - UCM 2, LWU 1The first game was a classic pitchers dual. With rain falling on and off, Shockley and Lady Lions starter Kendall Ryndak traded zeroes through the first four innings.
Lindenwood got on the board first in the fifth inning on Madison Huot's two-out double.
The Jennies broke through on one swing of the bat from
Alex Leonhart in the sixth. Prater led off the inning with an infield single to second and was nearly doubled-up on
Lauren Mabe's hard line out to third. Prater beating the throw back to first prove to be the difference as a batter later, Leonhart crushed a 3-1 pitch deep over the right center field wall. The home run was her third of the season and was all the support Shockley needed.
Lindenwood put the tying run on with a two-out single, but Shockley got a fly ball to end the game, 2-1.
For Shockley it was her 14th consecutive start earning a victory and season-high 18th win overall. She pitched all seven innings allowing just the one earned run on five hits while striking out two and walking two.
The Jennies were held to just five hits but made them count. Mabe was the only Jennie to finish with two hits. Leonhart had the biggest hit of all and finished 1-for-2 with a home run and the only two RBIs.
Ali Jo Rogers went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases.
Game Two - UCM 7, LWU 2Game two was a much different story. UCM quickly scored putting a run on the board in the first two innings. Prater drove home Rogers with the game's first run and
Carlie Rose scored on a fielder's choice in the second, putting the Jens up 2-0.
The Lady Lions cut the lead in half in the third with an RBI single from Madeline Bohr.
That's as close as Lindenwood got though as the Jennies put up five runs in the fifth to put the game away. Prater, Rose and
Lindsey Dawson picked up RBI in the innings and the Jennies took advantage of three Lindenwood errors in the inning.
Lindenwood added a run in the seventh on a solo home run to complete the scoring.
Prater picked up the win in the circle. She pitched the first five innings and allowed one run on three hits with two strike outs.
Jessica Wilkes came in and pitched the final two innings allowed one run on three hits.
Prater was also a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate. She scored a run and drove in two.
Makayla Schoonover was the only other Jennies with multiple hits. She finished 2-for-3 with a stolen base and a run scored. Rogers scored a game-high two runs and was 1-for-4 at the dish. She stole another base to give her three on the afternoon and 38 for the season.
The wins give the Jennies the No. 1 seed in next weekends MIAA Championship Tournament. They're opponent is still to be determined, but they'll play their first games Thursday, April 30 at 6 and 8 p.m. The Championship Tournament is held at the Blue Valley Recreation Complex in Overland Park, Kan.
