ST. LOUIS, MO. – The Spartans ran their conference winning streak to seven games in a doubleheader against Stephens College on Senior Night. Shelby Sievers outdueled the Stars' game one starter in a 1-0 win and Pingel's five-RBI performance in the 4 p.m. game led the Spartans to their seventh straight victory.
 
The lone run in game one was scored in the top of the second inning after a single from Skylar Ruiz brought Cami Meddows to the plate. Ruiz was off with the pitch when the senior from Trenton, Illinois lined a double to deep left field to bring in the run.
 
Sievers took it from there. The only trouble she found herself in during the remainder of the game was when a runner reached third base in the top of the sixth with two outs. She promptly struck the batter out looking to leave the runner stranded.
 
The junior finished off the Stars in the top of the seventh earning a complete-game shutout with four strikeouts. The win was her fourth win this week and pushed her record to 6-3 in 2021.
 
Offensively, game two was a different story.
 
MBU posted a run in the second inning after Katelyn Turbyfill singled and later came around to score on an error by the Stephens' catcher. In the bottom of the third, Haley Tate ripped an RBI double for the second run. With Tate on second, Allison Pingel hit her fifth home run of the season and second in two days to extend the lead to 4-1.
 
Captain Ally Dunaway toed the rubber in game two and rolled through the first four innings while only surrendering one run.
 
The Stars found their swing in the fifth, however. Lauren Huskey tripled to bring in two runs and later scored to tie the game on an Allyssa Wilmoth single.
 
Missouri Baptist regained the lead in the bottom half when Pingel drove in a pair of runs with a single and scored later on Meddows' sacrifice fly to right field.
 
Stephens continued to respond offensively in the top of the sixth collecting three more runs off reliever Tate who replaced Dunaway late in the fifth inning. With runners on first and second, Tate got out of the jam with a strikeout and a pop-out to second base without any more damage done.
 
Knotted back up at seven, Dunaway collected her second hit of the day to lead off the inning and was replaced by Tayonne Jones on the basepaths. Madalyn Bone proceeded to single followed by Kolby Brake's hit by pitch. Jones was forced out at home when the next batter Tate hit a ground ball to the shortstop for the first out of the inning.
 
Pingel, the Spartans' hottest hitter, stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and drilled a single through the hole to put her team back on top for her fifth RBI of the game. Turbyfill drove in another run on her third hit of the game for much-needed insurance heading into the final frame.
 
Sievers, with four wins already under her belt this week, was called upon in a save situation in the top of the seventh. She set the Stars down in order to earn her first save as a Spartan and to push the winning streak to seven in a row.
 
The wins help Missouri Baptist softball keep a second-place tie with Central Baptist College in the American Midwest Conference standings and puts their overall record at 13-7 on the year.
 
Next up for the Spartans is 11th-ranked and first-place Columbia College on Saturday, April 17. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Spartan Softball Field.