The Missouri Southern softball program picked up a day two sweep of Northern State this evening to close out the Teri Mathis Zenner (TMZ) Memorial Tournament today.
The Lions (7-7) got an 8-0, run-rule win to begin the day as Kara Amos pitched six shutout innings with five strikeouts and gave up only three hits while going 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and scoring a run herself. Leadoff hitter Sidnie Hurst picked up three RBIs and Leighton Withers had two RBIs as well. Adrianna Young went 3-for-3 at the plate in the game scoring twice.
Northern State (5-7) began the first inning by going three up, three down with ground outs to corner infielders and striking out swinging to end the half-inning. Southern drew back-to-back walks before a Withers single up the middle scored Hurst and Josie Tofpi as the Lions held a 2-0 advantage after the first frame.
Singles by Young and Tori Frazier made it so that a Hurst single up the middle scored a run in the inning and almost added more with the bases loaded with one out before two fielder’s choice force outs ended the inning. The Lions scored a run in the third inning as Ashlynn Williams led off the inning with a triple before scoring off an Amos single down the left-field line making it 4-0 after the third inning.
The Lions were blanked in the fourth but came back in the fifth to score three runs before flying out with runners on second and third to give the Wolves another inning. Amos shut out Northern State in the sixth inning before hitting a double to right-center that set up the winning play as a throwing error by the pitcher allowed her to score and end the game in a run-rule victory for the Lions for their second run-rule win of the season.
Game two saw the Lions secure a comeback 5-3 win as the Wolves put runs on the board for the first time of the day. Josie Tofpi led the Lions with two RBIs while going 2-for-4 at the plate while Yazmin Vargas and Ashlynn Williams also came away with two hits. Bailey Lacy pitched seven innings with seven strikeouts picking up her second win of the season.
After being blanked for the previous eight innings Northern State scored two runs in the third inning for their first lead of the day against the Lions. A Wolves home run in the fifth made it 3-0 but the Lions ended the inning up 4-3.
Tofpi got the party started with a triple to right-center to score Vargas before later scoring off a Leighton Withers single to left field. Kara Amos singled through the left side to score Izzy Medrano who was pinch-running for Withers and a Northern State error scored Williams later on.
The Lions closed the scoring for the game in the sixth inning with a Tofpi single to right-center that scored Vargas. In the seventh Lion pitcher, Bailey Lacy struck out the first two Wolves batters before securing the win with a flyout to right field.
Up next for Southern is the Lion Classic that will be hosted at Pat Lipira Softball Complex with the Lions set for double-headers against McKendree and Rockhurst. The Lions are set to currently play McKendree on March 5th at 2 and 4:00 pm approximately and will face off with Rockhurst on the 6th at 1 and 3:00 pm approximately.