DURANT, Okla. (Feb 5, 2017) - Central Missouri softball dropped a pair of close games in the final day of the Southeastern Oklahoma State Regional Invitational. The Jens held a slim lead against Southwestern Oklahoma State, before falling 4-2 to the Bulldogs. They followed that up with a 2-1 loss to Texas A&M International. After the six game tournament, the Jennies are 3-3 on the season.
Game One - Southwestern Oklahoma 4, Central Missouri 2
The Jennies got on the board first, scoring a run in the second and third innings.
Lauryn Deer got the scoring started with an RBI double. An inning later,
Courtni Smith plated a run with a two-out single to center.
After keeping the Bulldogs off of the scoreboard for the first four innings, SWOSU broke through with a run in the fifth, after a triple and a run-scoring single.
Central Missouri still held a 2-1 heading to the seventh inning. The Jens looked like they were going to get out of a second and third, no out situation unharmed after
Alexa Bradley got the next two Bulldog batters to groundout without allowing a run, but a two-out single gave Southwestern Oklahoma the lead, 3-2. The Bulldogs followed that up with another RBI single, giving SWOSU a 4-2 win.
Jordan Johnson started for the Jennies and threw 4.2 innings. She worked in and out of trouble, giving up nine hits and three walks, but only allowed the one run.
Katie Giacone took the loss in relief, throwing 1.1 innings, allowing two runs on two hits with a strikeout.
The Jennies collected just seven hit, two coming from Deer. Smith reached base twice with an RBI single, a walk and a run scored.
Kaytlin Donaldson threw all seven innings for the Bulldogs. She gave up two runs on seven hits with four walks and a strikeout. Southwestern Oklahoma knocked 14 hits in the game, getting three from Paige Bowler. Tori Hawk went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
Game Two - Texas A&M International 2, Central Missouri 1
All the scoring in this one game in one inning. After three scoreless innings, the Dustdevils scored two in the top of the fourth on a two-out, two-RBI single from Ashley Hight. The Jens got a run back in the bottom of the frame when
Emily King's innocent ground ball was mishandled, allowing
Allie Dishinger to score.
Both teams were held hitless over the final two innings as Bradley and Delainy Thompson of the Dustdevils matched zeros, and Texas A&M held on for the 2-1 win.
Bradley took the hard-luck loss throwing all seven innings allowing just two runs on five hits with three strikeouts. The Jennies offense only scratched out three hits, one apiece from Giacone,
Hailey Crabtree, and
Alex Leonhart.
Thompson pitched seven innings of one-run ball for the Dustdevils, giving up three hits and striking out eight. Brenda Parnin picked up two of Texas A&M International's five hits and Hight drove home both runs.
Central Missouri will move onto the NFCA Lead-Off Classic next week. They'll take on five teams from the southeast in Clearwater, Fla. Feb. 10-12.
