St. Louis- The Spartans had a quick turn around as they had back-to-back conference doubleheaders. After defeating Cottey the previous day (March 22), MBU was up against William Woods yesterday, March 23. The Spartans were looking for a repeat performance of their sweep against the Comets, picking up another two wins against the Owls. WWU posed more of a challenge this go around but the Spartans rose to the occasion, bringing their conference record to 4-0.
 
GAME ONE
The first inning was a quick turnaround with no runs scored. A single batter made it on base between the teams with no scoring opportunities for either. The second inning would go by in a similar fashion, and it wouldn't be till the third that the first run of the game was up on the board.

The top of the inning went three up-three down and MBU came up to bat. The Spartans were soon down to the wire with two outs and Kolby Brake and Miranda Ladson on via walk. Brooklynn Fischer then stepped into the batter's box and hit a short fly ball over the shorts stops head to bring in Brake for the first run of the game. It didn't take long for the Spartans to bring in another runner as Abagail Cafolla followed up with a hit of her own. The sophomore hit a ground ball out of reach of the short stop and into center field, allowing Ladson to make her way around the bases and safely home.

The Spartans would go on to extend their lead in the fifth. Fischer would send MBU to the plate after striking out the last batter. Ladson would lead off the inning by sending a fly ball down the left field line for a double. Ab. Cafolla then came out and hit a double of her own almost to the same spot, putting both her and Ladson in scoring position. Unfortunately Ladson would be out on the next play when she would be caught heading to home on a base hit by Natalie Archer. Ab. Cafolla was able to make it to third on the play, bringing Allison Leigraf up to bat with runners on first in third. On the first pitch, the sophomore hit a ground ball down the left field line, bringing in Ab. Cafolla for a run. The owls tried to pick off Leigraf heading to second but noticing Archer trying to take advantage of the situation to score, the second baseman attempted the play out at home. While Archer may have been tagged out, the catcher was standing in front of the plate before she even had the ball leading to an obstruction call and the senior was awarded the base.

The next two innings went by fast, with the Spartans making quick work of the Owls during their last few remaining at bats. The Spartans picked up their first win of the day against the Owls 4-0. Fischer added her fourth shutout of the season and now holds a 10-1 record. The sophomore had six strikeouts in the game and allowed only four hits.
 
GAME TWO
MBU got things going right away this time, bringing in a run in the very first inning. Meghan Hager led off for the Spartans, hitting a ground ball to the third baseman. Before the defenseman could even throw the ball, the sophomore was only a few steps from the bag, making it safely on. Ladson proceeded to move Hager around and into scoring position but was unable to beat out the throw to first. On the very next pitch, Hager was able to steal third and just needed a base hit to bring her in. Fischer did just that, sending a ground ball right by the short stop to earn the RBI.

The Spartans didn't maintain that lead for long when the Owls sent the ball over the fence for a two-run homer in the top of the second. Undeterred, MBU evened things back up in the bottom of the inning. Leigraf doubled a long fly ball out to the left field fence to kick off the Spartans at bat. The sophomore moved around to third on a ground out by Jenna Achs and was brought in when Kolby Brake hit a sacrifice fly out to center field for the RBI.

It was a battle for the lead in the next inning, with multiple runners left on base but it wasn't until the bottom of the fifth that MBU was able to pull away with the lead. Archer started it off by hitting a line drive down the left field line, making it to first. The senior was moved around when Achs stepped up and hit a ground ball to the short stop and beat out the throw to first. Brake kept things going by hitting a fly ball just in front of the left fielder, loading the bases. The Spartans just needed one good hit to take the lead. That time came when Hager doubled on a fly ball out to left field, dropping out of reach of the diving left fielder. The sophomore, who has proven to be reliable under pressure in two out situations, brought in not just the lead runner Archer, but also Achs and Brake.

The Owls attempted their comeback in top of the sixth when they were able to put another run on the board, but the Spartans were able to get out of the inning without letting up any more runs. With the first two batters on in the top of the seventh the Spartans would send in Taylor Whitehead to finish things up in the circle, and the defense proceeded to sit down the next three batters for the win.

The Spartans locked in their second win of the day against the Owls, 5-3. Alexandria Cafolla earned her fifth win of the season, striking out four Owls in six innings.

MBU will have a couple days off before they head up to Columbia, Mo. to take on both Stephens and Columbia this weekend (March 29-30) for back-to-back conference doubleheaders. They will be kicking off the weekend against the Starts starting at 2PM.