BRANSON, Mo. - 20th-ranked McKendree University softball (17-10, 3-1 GLVC) finished out its non-conference slate over spring break week with a 2-4 finish at the Branson Spring Break Games, sweeping the contests on March 12 over Northeastern State and Northern State. The Bearcats dropped the day one and day three games in the road trip but jump right back into GLVC play this weekend with doubleheaders at Drury and Southwest Baptist. McKendree will visit Drury on March 15 and SBU on March 16.
Game 1 | L, 2-0 vs Washburn
McKendree struggled to get its bats going in the first game of the week, totaling just five hits with freshman catcher
Morgan Spodarek tallying two hits while senior pitcher
Paige McAllister, junior shortstop
Lauren Harris, and senior infielder
Sarah Roth all collected one on the day.
Junior hurler
Sami Huck tossed five strikeouts in the effort over 5.2 innings with McAllister punching out one.
Game 2 | L, 3-1 vs Minot State
The Bearcats battled in the second game of the trip, unable to gain traction early in the contest, tallying just five total hits again. Minot State socred its three runs in the first two innings while McKendree added its lone run in the seventh. The score came off a single out to center field by senior outfielder
Heaven Lawrence which pushed freshman
Paisley Twait home.
Junior pitcher
Ellie Vetter tossed six innings in the effort with nine strikeouts on the day.
Game 3 | W, 7-1 vs Northeastern State
No.20 McKendree bounced back on day two and pounced early with five runs in the first two innings against NSU. Roth collected a walk to push home junior outfielder
Laynee Tapp in the first for the 1-0 advantage. The second inning began with a double by Vetter to score Twait while Harris followed it up with an RBI-single, which drove home Vetter. Roth then got back to the plate with a left field single to push Lawrence home before junior infielder
Ali Grenzebach singled to get Harris across. Following the flurry of hits, the Bearcats led 5-0.
McKendree went for two more runs overall with Twait dropping a single into left field during the fourth to push Spodarek home while Harris rounded out the scoring in the fifth via RBI double to center.
The bounced-back game saw Vetter go 6.1 innings overall with six punch outs.
Game 4 | W, 13-5 vs Northern State (6inn.)
The bats stayed hot for the Bearcats in game two on Wednesday as they tallied 14 hits in a run-rule victory over Northern State. McKendree had a small two-run deficit to begin the game as NSU score two in the first. the Bearcats knotted it up in the bottom of the first with a double by Harris and a single by Roth, scoring Vetter first and then Harris.
After tying the game, the Bearcats went on to hit the gas and take the lead for the final time in the fourth after getting two more runs in the fourth via RBI double by sophomore outfielder
Molly Bartz. The fourth saw seven runs for McKendree off four RBI hits, including three singles and a double. McKendree capped the game in the sixth for the run-rule on a double by Twait, which drove in Bartz and Grenzebach.
McAllister earned the win with four innings in the circle while Huck finished out the final two innings with a trio of strikeouts.
Game 5 | L, 3-2 vs No.8 Augustana
McKendree battled the eighth-ranked Vikings to begin the final day in Branson, fighting back from an early 2-0 deficit behind an RBI double by Harris in the fourth to cut the lead to just a run. Augustana added one more in the fifth but McKendree did not back down with a sac fly in the seventh to make it a one-run game once again. The Bearcats were unable to overcome the deficit, falling to the No.8 squad in Division II.
Huck threw the full game with 13 strikeouts in the effort.
Game 6 | L, 1-0 vs Washburn
The final game of the week in Branson proved to be a close contest in all aspects with just eight hits between the teams with McKendree totaling five versus WU's three. The lone run and lead went to Washburn in the fourth, proving to be the game-winner.
Vetter tossed six innings with five strikeouts for the Bearcats.
UP NEXT
March 15 | 2:00/4:00PM at Drury | Springfield, Missouri |
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March 16 | 12:00/2:00PM at Southwest Baptist | Bolivar, Missouri |
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