ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (March 18, 2017) - Jennies Softball started the day with their fourth straight win, their longest winning streak of the year, but fell in game two on Saturday in extra innings. After going 1-1, the Jens are 10-15 on the season, and through two days in St. Joseph, they are 3-1 against the Northern Sun.
Game One: Central Missouri 7, Sioux Falls 4
The Jennies scored three runs in the first inning, all with two outs, to jump on top of the Cougars.
Hailey Crabtree got the offense going with a single. She scored on
Lauren Mabe's double.
Courtni Smith punctuated the inning with a two-RBI double, her first of two extra-base hits in the game.
The offense didn't stop there, adding a pair in the third. Mabe and Smith were again in the middle of the action. Mabe led off with a double and scored when Smith tripled her home. Smith scored herself on a
Carlie Rose sacrifice fly.
Katie Giacone was cruising for the Jennies in the circle. RBI singles from Rose and
Allie Dishinger gave her a 7-1 cushion after the Cougars got on the board with an unearned run in the fifth.
Giacone ran into trouble in the seventh though. The first three batters all reached base and
Alexa Bradley was brought in to collect the final three outs. Sioux Falls eventually scored three in the inning and brought the winning run to the plate with only one out. Bradley ended the game with a ground out and pop out to preserve Giacone's fourth win of the season.
In total, Giacone tossed six innings, giving up four runs, two earned on four hits. She struck out three and walked three. Bradley pitched the final inning giving up two hits and a walk.
The Jens enjoyed a nice afternoon at the plate, collecting seven runs and 11 hits. Four Jennies picked up two hits apiece. Mabe, Smith and
Alex Leonhart all scored twice. Smith finished the game 2-for-4 with a career-high three RBI and two runs scored.
Kerrigan Hoshaw took the loss for the Cougars. She lasted just 3.2 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking one. She also went 1-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored.
Game Two: Northern State 4, Central Missouri 3 - 8 Innings
The Jennies had a chance for their fifth straight win, but runs in the seventh and eighth by Northern State gave the Wolves the victory.
Both teams scored twice in the opening frame.
Lauryn Deer kicked things off with a triple, the first of three straight Jennies to reach base to start the game. She and
Makayla Schoonover came around to score for UCM.
The lead didn't last long though as the Wolves tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a two-run home run from Jenna Helgeson.
That was all the scoring until the sixth as starting pitchers
Alexa Bradley and Jamie Fisher settled in.
Deer broke the 2-all tie with an RBI single in the sixth to score
Allie Dishinger. But a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh tied the game and sent the two teams into extra innings.
With the international tie-breaker rule in effect, the teams placed a runner at second base to start the inning. The Jens couldn't push a run across in the top of the eighth, but the Wolves scored after a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch, ending the game, 4-3.
Bradley pitched 6.1 innings giving up three runs on five hits with three strikeouts. Giacone took the loss in relief going 1.1 innings, allowing the run in the eighth, without giving up a hit and striking out one.
Deer continued her hot hitting going 3-for-5 with a run, RBI and stolen base. Schoonover went 1-for-3 with a run and stolen base and has six stolen bases in her last four games. Leonhart and Dishinger knocked two hits apiece.
Fisher went the distance for the Wolves in the circle. She earned the win pitching eight innings giving up three runs with five strikeouts and two walks. She worked out of trouble as the Jens collected 10 hits. It is the fourth time in five games the Jens had 10 or more hits.
Helgeson had the big hit for NSU, the home run in the first. The Wolves only picked up five hits, two coming from Rachel Albright.
Central Missouri wraps up the Missouri Western "Hy-Vee" Regional Crossover Sunday, March 19. They play Augustana (S.D.) at 11 am and follow that up with Minnesota State-Duluth at 1 p.m.
