ST. LOUIS, MO. – Grand slams from senior
Alex Stupek and sophomore
Serena Olson helped the No. 25 ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis softball team to an 11-1 five-inning victory over Kentucky Wesleyan in an opening round game of the NCAA Midwest Regional, hosted by the top-seeded Tritons.
UMSL advances to play No. 4 seed Wayne State (Mich.) at Noon tomorrow. The Warriors were a 1-0 winner over No. 5 seed Truman State, which will face the eighth-seeded Panthers in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m.
Stupek's long ball came in the bottom of the first inning with no outs and made it 5-0 as senior
Erin Walker drove in sophomore
Reagan Osborn with a double earlier. Osborn led off with a triple.
Stupek also became the program's career leader in RBIs with the home run, the 52
nd of her career. Stupek, who also hold career records in hits, runs scored, home runs and total bases, now has 174 career RBIs.
Stupek finished 3-for-3 at the plate, coming up a triple shy of the cycle. The Tritons recorded 11 hits, including five for extra base. Olson, Osborn and Walker added two hits each, while redshirt freshman
Morgan Hill reach base three times, twice via the walk and once on a single.
Olson's round tripper ended the game in the fifth inning with two outs and gave her 130 total bases for the year – a new single season record.
Sophomore
Carly Kingery improved to 24-6 in the circle, tossing the four-hitter. Kentucky Wesleyan (38-21) loaded the bases in the first inning with one out, reaching on a bunt single, an error and walk, but Kingery struck out the next two to get out of the jam. She finished with seven Ks.
The Panthers' lone run came in the third inning, but UMSL came across the plate two more times in the bottom half, scoring one on Osborn's RBI single before senior
Ryan Logan scampered home on a wild pitch.
TRITON TIDBITS
UMSL notched a 40-win season for the fifth straight year and sixth time in program history… The Tritons were playing at home for the first time since April 15 and are now 8-3 at home… UMSL has won 14 of its last 15 games… The Tritons improve to 30-9 all-time against Kentucky Wesleyan… UMSL is 14-12 all-time in NCAA contests, including a combined 10-6 in the last five seasons.
