FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Match 26, 2008

Lions split opening MIAA series with Washburn

Game One Box | Game Two Box

Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern softball team split their MIAA opening series with the Washburn Lady Blues today, dropping the opener 6-5, but winning the nightcap, 10-4.

Southern (4-16, 1-1 MIAA) scored once in the second and once in the fourth as game one was tied at two runs each going into the fifth inning. The Lions' first run occurred when Andrea Childs tripled down the right field line and scored when the cutoff throw was bobbled. Lauren Hasty had an RBI single in the fourth to score Kayleigh Cecil.

The Lady Blues (17-16, 3-1 MIAA) scored two runs, however, in the fourth to go up 4-2 and added a run each in the sixth and seventh.

Southern added three more in the bottom of the seventh as the Lions mounted a late rally. With two on and one out, catcher Angie Turner hit her sixth home run of the season to cut the lead to 6-5. Southern would ground out on the next two batters to end the game.

Kelli Bax started for the Lions and went four and a third, allowing two earned runs on four hits. Turner was 2-4 with three RBIs and a run, while Childs and Amanda Godfrey each had two hits and a run.

The spotlight in game two was squarely on junior pitcher Lauryn Berger. The native of LaGrange, Texas went four and two thirds of perfect pitching before a two-out double in the top of the fifth inning ended the perfect game. Washburn would score a run in the fifth and three in the sixth.

Southern scored two runs in each of the first two innings to go up 4-0 early on. Megan Roark and Childs had RBIs in the first, while an RBI double from Roark and an run scoring single from Turner in the second plated two more. Roark added another RBI double in the fourth as part of a three run inning, while the Lions scored three more in the sixth highlighted by an RBI double from Julie Taylor.

Roark was perfect in game two, going 4-4 from the plate with three RBI's a run scored and two doubles. Turner was 3-4 with three runs and an RBI, while both Bax and Godfrey scored twice.

Tamika Barnes pitched the final inning and a third and was perfect, striking out two and walking none. Between Barnes and Berger, the two pitchers combined for 60 pitches in seven innings against the Lady Blues in game two.

The Lions will be back in action this Friday, playing host to Fort Hays State in a double-header at 3 pm at Gene Wild Field.