ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western softball team (11-8) picked up a home opening sweep to push its win streak to five games Sunday at the Spring Sports Complex. The Griffons came back to defeat Drury (9-9) 5-4 in game one before a run-rule, 10-1, win in game two. After the pair of wins, the Griffons have won eight of their last nine games
GAME 1
MWSU 5, Drury 4
Rian Gere's first collegiate home run was the game winner for Missouri Western. Gere lined a solo shot over the left field fence to lead off the fifth and break a 4-4 tie.
Drury scored three unearned runs in the first, but the Griffs answered with two unearned in the bottom half. The Panthers took a 4-2 lead on an RBI triple in the second. Then the Griffons scored four unanswered starting with an RBI single by Kayln Damgaard in the third. Brea Blanton drove in Markee Brown in the third to tie the game at four before Gere's game winner in the fifth.
Taylor Hoelscher went 2 for 3 in the game with an RBI and a run scored. Gere was also 2 for 3 and Sydni Hawkins had two hits in four at bats. The Griffons walked six times in the game and two Griffons were hit. Kelly Uthe went the distance to move to 5-4 on the season. She allowed four runs, just one earned, on seven hits with three strikeouts, three walks and one hit batter.
GAME 2
MWSU 10, Drury 1
The Griffons jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on an Emma Hoffart two-RBI double, an RBI triple by Hawkins and Hoelscher's second double of the day. MWSU added three more in the third on a two-RBI single by Markee Brown and an RBI single from Gere. Hawkins drove in another in the fourth on a single and Brown picked up two more RBIs on a single in the fourth.
Hawkins went 3 for 3 in the game with two RBIs and three runs scored. Hoffart was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Brown drove in four on her two hits. Eight of nine Griffons in the starting lineup had at least one hit. Kaili Hinds moved to 5-2 on the season, holding Drury to three hits over five innings with two of those hits coming in the fifth. She gave up one run in the fifth and danced around six walks.
UP NEXT
Missouri Western is scheduled to host Illinois Springfield in a three-game series beginning with a single game Monday at 5 p.m. The forecast may force a change to that schedule. The teams are also set for a doubleheader on Tuesday.
--- MWSU Athletics ---