ALLENDALE, Mich. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis softball team dropped its NCAA Tournament opener at eighth ranked Grand Valley State 2-1 on Thursday at the GVSU Softball Field in Allendale, Mich. The Tritons drop to 33-21 while the Lakers move to 41-6.
UMSL, seeded seventh, had the game's first good scoring chance putting two on with two out in the third but was unable to score as
McKenzie Lamos was robbed of a hit by Morgan Spicer. Spicer snagged a deflection of the glove of Kelsey Komorous and dove headfirst into the bag at first to retire to Lamos to end the inning.
The Tritons got on the board first in the fourth inning.
Megan Brown led off the inning hammering a 3-1 change up over the fence in left for her third home run of the season.
The Lakers, seeded second, tied the game in their half of the fourth on a one out home run from catcher Morgan Wagner.
UMSL had a chance to regain the lead in the fifth loading the bases with one out but Brown grounded into a 5-3 double play to end the inning.
GV took the lead in the home half of the sixth loading the bases with a pair of walks and a bunt single with one out. Spicer drove in Goble with the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to left center.
The Tritons were unable to scratch across a run in the seventh to tie the game.
UMSL had three hits in the contest with Brown,
Courtney Settles and
Maddie Snemis getting one apiece.
Annie Scaramuzzi took the loss in the contest giving up two runs on four hits with a pair of strikeouts but walked five in the contest to fall to 8-6 on the season.
The Tritons are back in action on Friday afternoon taking on sixth seeded Ohio Dominican at 12:30 p.m. (CDT). The Panthers lost to third seeded Saginaw Valley 8-0 in five innings on Thursday.
