EMPORIA, KAN. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis softball team dropped a pair of games on Sunday to close out play at the ESU Classic. The Tritons fell in extra innings to Concordia-St. Paul, 7-4, before falling to Missouri Southern, 5-3.
The Tritons (3-5) will play six games in the Midwest Region Crossover in Evansville, Ind., next Friday-Sunday.
Game 1: Concordia 7, UMSL 4
Concordia (3-0) scored four runs on four hits in the top of the eighth inning to earn the win. Playing with the international tie breaker rule, the Golden Bears led off the frame with three straight hits.
UMSL forced the extra inning in the sixth inning when redshirt sophomore
Morgan Hill delivered a two-out RBI single that sent junior
Lizzy Miller home to make it 3-3. Miller led off with a single of her own.
The Tritons scored in the first inning on an RBI single from junior
Chelsea Martinez and made it 2-0 in the third on junior
Serena Olson's RBI groundout.
Concordia answered back with three runs in the fifth, including a leadoff home run.
UMSL got one run back in the bottom of the eighth for the final score on an RBI groundout from Hill.
Martinez and fellow juniors
Madi Sundling and
Reagan Osborn had two hits each as UMSL outhit Concordia, 10-9, but left 11 runners stranded.
Sophomore
Andee Tiffee suffered the loss in the circle despite a solid start. After a leadoff single to open the game, Tiffee retired the next eight she faced until a one-out walk in the third. She worked seven innings, scattered eight hits, allowed all seven runs, struck out seven and walked three.
Game 2: Missouri Southern 5, UMSL 3
Missouri Southern (3-5) rode a quick start in which they scored three first inning runs en route to the victory.
UMSL chipped away with single runs in the third and fifth innings. Martinez used a two-out RBI single in the third, while Tiffee's RBI fielder's choice in the fifth made it 3-2 when Osborn, who led off with a double, crossed home.
The Lions added a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth before Sundling delivered a solo home run in the sixth to make it 4-3.
UMSL left the tying run at second in the seventh, trailing by two runs after another MSSU runner scored in the sixth.
Osborn tallied three of the Tritons' eight hits, while Martinez added two.
