BELLEVILLE, Ill. – Missouri Baptist softball dropped the first game of Tuesday's twin bill versus Lindenwood University-Belleville, 10-2 (6 Inn.), before rebounding nicely with a 5-3 win in Game Two.
With the doubleheader split, the Spartans remain in a two-way tie with the Lynx for sixth place in the latest American Midwest Conference (AMC) softball standings. MBU is now 12-13 overall and 6-4 in the AMC. Lindenwood-Belleville moved to 16-18 on the year and 6-4 in conference play.
The Spartans turn right back around on Wednesday to play Columbia College in a home series at Spartan Softball Field. The doubleheader was originally scheduled for March 29, but was pushed back due to rain and thunderstorms.
A string of untimely errors haunted the Spartans in the series opener. While they benefited from a pair of Lindenwood errors in the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead, the Lynx were aided by three MBU miscues that resulted in a three-run inning.
Looking to cut into the Lynx 3-1 lead, the Spartans narrowed the gap to just one with a
Meagan Elder solo shot over the center field fence. Elder, who leads the team in batting average (0.420), recorded her second home run of the season.
Unfortunately, the run support for game one starter
Delissa Dennison ended with Elder's home run. Meanwhile, the Lynx broke open the game in the fifth frame with five runs and ended the game early in the sixth via the run rule, 10-2.
In the nightcap, the first three MBU batters in the lineup lifted the Spartans to their 5-3 win. After a quick three-up, three-down inning to begin the game,
Jordan Corby,
Madalyn Bone ad
Caitlin McNiff caught fire and combining for 7 of MBU's 8 hits, 4 RBI and a .636 batting average.
Trailing 1-0 after the first two frames, Missouri Baptist played catch up and jumped ahead of the Lynx with a productive third inning. The Spartans received two-out singles from Corby, Bone and McNiff to score a pair of runs. Lindenwood-Belleville responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning to even things at 2-all.
The tie was short-lived though as the MBU's go-ahead run came in the top of the fourth on a
Reily Kassay sacrifice fly to bring home
Ally Gischer. The Spartans added a pair in the sixth for safe measure with
Amber Mobbs reaching on a walk along with a
Jordan Corby RBI double and
Madalyn Bone RBI single on back-to-back at-bats.
Ally Dunaway logged a 7-inning complete game and weathered the storm following a solo home run in the sixth by LU-B's Madison Rapien on a full count with two outs. Dunaway got the win in the circle and improved to 5-6 on the year.
