TOPEKA, Kan. – The Central Missouri Jennies (5-4, 0-0) swept a pair of games defeating the Minot State Beavers (5-7, 0-0) 4-3 (8 inn.) before defeating the Wayne State (Neb.) Wildcats (1-9, 0-0) by a final score of 7-5 on Saturday, Feb. 24, in the opening day of the Washburn Invitational from Lake Shawnee North Park in Topeka.
The Jens return to the diamond on Sunday, Feb. 25, as they take on the St. Cloud State Huskies (8-3, 0-0) beginning at 10:00 a.m. before a matchup with the Minnesota State Mavericks (7-2, 0-0) at noon from Gahnstrom Field.
Game 1: Central Missouri 4, Minot State 3 (8 inn.)
The Jens got on the board first with an RBI groundout from second baseman
Morgan Shields (scoring
Carly Youngblood) in the top of the second inning. MSU would tie the game with a run in the fourth, but Central Missouri quickly responded in the next half inning with back-to-back homers from freshman
Taylor Thompson and left fielder
Abby Allnutt giving the Jens a 3-1 lead.
The Beavers answered with a run in the sixth, before tying the game in the seventh to force extra innings. With shortstop
Jadyn Sheffield on third with one out, Allnutt delivered the winning run with an RBI single down the left field line as senior
Sadie Parks (1-1) picked up the win in the circle allowing no hits while striking out a pair in two innings of relief.
Game 2: Central Missouri 7, Wayne State (Neb.) 5
After a pair of sacrifice flies from Youngblood (scoring
MaKenzie Cooper in the second inning) and Thompson (scoring Sheffield in the third), UCM extended their lead to 3-0 thanks to a first baseman
Breanna Newton RBI double (scoring Cooper).
In the top of the fifth, Central Missouri made it 4-0 with a lead-off dinger from Sheffield (her first of the season), but the Wildcats responded with five runs in the bottom of the inning. The Jens answered in the next frame with an RBI double down the right field line from right fielder
Lexi Blackmon (scoring Youngblood) followed by an RBI single up the middle from Sheffield giving UCM a 6-5 advantage.
After a lead-off single from Thompson in the top of the seventh, the catcher would later score a key insurance run thanks to a wild pitch as freshman
Brooke Weimer (3-1) gets her third win of the season in the circle tossing two hitless innings in relief striking out a pair of Wildcat batters for good measure.