TOPEKA, Kan. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis softball team opened its 2023 season with a split on Saturday at the Emporia State Classic in Topeka, Kan. The Tritons dropped their opener to Newman 6-5 (4-3) in nine innings then rallied to defeat Concordia-St. Paul (1-4) 10-2 in five innings in the second game.
Game 2 – UMSL 10 Concordia-St. Paul 2 5 innings
UMSL (1-1) fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first on a two-run single down the right field line off the bat of Sydney Pelzer. The Tritons had a chance to tie the game in its half of the first but left the bases loaded.
UMSL tied the game in the fourth.
McKenzie Lamos singled through the right side of the infield to drive in
Maddie Snemis with the first run then later in the inning
Courtney Settles drove in
Megan Brown with a sacrifice fly to right.
The Tritons sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth scoring eight runs on seven hits.
Riley Schultz started the inning with a double to left and was run for by
Jamie Widule.
Corinne Daley gave UMSL the lead with a single to left center scoring Widule.
Lamos made it 5-2 with a single to right that scored Daley and
Anna VanGundy. Settles followed with a double to right to score
Megan Brown then
Annie Scaramuzzi singled to right to score Lamos to make it 7-2. Settles scored on a wild pitch and then Schultz capped the inning hitting a two-run homer to left to end the contest.
UMSL pounded out 14 hits in the contest and was led by Lamos with four while Schultz, Settles and
Irene Travis had two hits apiece. Lamos, Settles and Schultz combined to drive in seven of the 10 runs.
Mimi Bradley got the start in the circle for the Tritons as she threw the first 3.2 innings allowing two runs on four hits with a pair of strikeouts against two walks.
Jenna Towle picked up the win in relief going the final 1.1 allowing just one hit to go to 1-0.
Game 1 – Newman 6 UMSL 5 9 innings
UMSL jumped out to 1-0 lead in the top of the second as Settles drove in
Irene Travis with a single to right center. Newman tied the game in its half of the second on a double to left off the bat of Gianna De Luca-Paape that scored Anissa Ramos.
The Tritons regained the lead in the third as Settles was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded scoring Snemis. The Jets scored a pair of unearned runs in the home half of the third to take a 3-2 lead.
The lead would be short lived as UMSL tied the game in the fourth on a groundout to short from Brown that brought home VanGundy.
The game remained tied until the seventh. With one out, Scaramuzzi singled to right and advanced to second on a fielding error by the right fielder. Schultz drove her in with a single to right to put the Tritons in front 4-3.
Newman loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh but was only able to tie the game as it left the bases loaded forcing extra innings. The Jets had the winning run at third with one out in their half of the eighth but Brown got a strikeout and a fly out to right to send the game to the ninth.
In the ninth, UMSL scored the go-ahead run on a groundout to short from Settles that drove in Lamos.
Newman won the game in the bottom of the inning with two runs. Tori Waggoner scored the tying run on a bunt single and then later in the inning Madi Canez scored on a throwing error by Lamos to end the game.
The Tritons had six hits in the contest and were led by
Irene Travis with two while Settles drove in three runs. Brown dropped to 0-1 allowing three unearned runs on four hits with five strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work.
UMSL is back in action at the ESU Classic on Sunday taking on Minnesota Duluth at 10 a.m. and Sioux Falls at 12:15 p.m. Both games will be played at Washburn's Gahnstrom Field in Topeka, Kan.
