NEVADA, Mo. – Missouri Baptist softball were unable to register its first win of the season in Friday's doubleheader against Cottey College. The MBU (0-6, 0-0 AMC) offense fizzled in both games, falling 5-2 in the opener, and struggled to keep up in the rematch, dropping 13-5 in six innings.
 
GAME ONE
 
Mobap began the day with a bang. Starting pitcher and cleanup hitter Shelby Sievers smacked a two-run homer in the top of the 1st inning after senior Madalyn Bone reached on a fielder's choice. The game did not go as planned from there, as the home side evened things in the bottom of the second and went on to score one run each in the third, fifth, and sixth innings.
 
Sievers took her third loss of the year and fell to 0-3 as a starter. The Poplar Bluff, Mo. native allowed five earned runs, but struck out two amid a full game's work. Sievers was just one of two Spartans to register a hit, with leadoff hitter Kaylee Morris getting the only other hit for the visitors.
 
Cottey, who will join the American Midwest Conference next season as a full-time member, capitalized on two MBU errors, with the tying and fourth runs for the Comets both occurring on a play with a Spartan error. Cottey center fielder Karina Ramirez and third base Aryana Palencia both registered two RBI's, with Palencia's RBI double in the bottom of the third proving to be the game winner.
 
GAME TWO
 
After gain grabbing a two-run lead on a home run on the first score of the game, the Mobap offense again went dormant. The Comets returned that score with an explosion of offense in response, as pitcher/designated player Kristen Hurst's 2 RBI double in the bottom of the second tied things up. Hurst would then steal home for the next Comets score and give them the lead for good. Cottey would go onto score eight runs in the inning.
 
Despite cutting the six-run lead down in half in the next half inning, the Spartans left a lot at the plate. Center fielder Isabella Schlemmer started things off with a single to left center and drove in a run and capped off the three-run top of the third by scoring on a Sydney Berry single, but MBU left three on base after a pop-up out and swinging strike out ended the rally.
 
The Comets added an insurance run in the fourth and ended things early with a Palencia two-run homer in the sixth as the lead was extended to eight before the final inning, making the final frame unnecessary.
 
The Spartans' next action will come when they play their home opener in a doubleheader with Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College on Tuesday, March 8th at 2:00 and 4:00 PM at Spartan Softball Field.