ALLENDALE, Mich. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis softball team's 2023 season ended in a hard fought 4-3 contest against Saginaw Valley in 12 innings on Friday at the GVSU Softball Field in Allendale, Mich. The Tritons won their opener on Friday over Ohio Dominican 5-2.
Game 2 – Saginaw Valley 4 UMSL 3 12 innings
UMSL, seeded seventh, loaded the bases with no one out in the second inning.
Annie Scaramuzzi was hit by a pitch to start the inning.
Maddie Snemis followed with a single to left and then
Riley Schultz reached on an error by the pitcher on her sacrifice bunt attempt to load the bases.
Jamie Widule put the Tritons on top lining a 1-2 pitch into center field for a single that scored Scaramuzzi and Snemis.
UMSL had a chance for more but left two runners stranded.
The Cardinals, (37-15) seeded third, had the tying runs in scoring position with one out in the fourth but Scaramuzzi got a line out to
Irene Travis at short and a strikeout to get out of the jam.
SVSU took the lead with one out in the fifth. Olivia Sabin and Katelyn Pnacek hit back-to-back singles to start the rally. Sarah Gersch hit a 3-2 pitch over the fence in center for a three-run homer to make it 3-2.
The Tritons tied the game in the home half of the fifth on a throwing error by the shortstop on a potential double play ball that allowed Travis to score the tying run. UMSL had a chance to regain the lead but Scaramuzzi grounded out to second to end the inning.
The game turned into a pitcher's duel over the final seven innings as both sides had chances but neither could break through.
The Cardinals got back-to-back hits to start the ninth inning as Scaramuzzi was replaced in the circle by
Mimi Bradley after the second hit. Bradley kept SVSU off the board retiring the heart of the order with three ground ball outs on just four pitches to keep the game tied.
In the 10th,
McKenzie Lamos hit a 2-0 offering high off the fence in right center for a leadoff double. She appeared to advance to third on
Megan Brown's fly out to left but the Cardinals appealed that Lamos left the bag early and was ruled out for the second out of the inning. Scaramuzzi then popped out to end the inning.
SVSU won the game in the 12th. Gersch and Paige Kolinski singled to put two on with one out. Bradley got Sara Moos to pop out to shallow center for the second out of the frame. Cam Coonan, pinch-hitting for Paige Thomson, hit a hard-hit ball to third that Lamos bobbled and couldn't throw out Coonan to end the inning. Maddie Campagna hit a blooper just out of the reach of
Anna VanGundy into shallow right that brought home Gersch with the go-ahead run. Kolinski tried to score from second on the play but was thrown out at the plate by Brown to end the inning.
UMSL got a two-out single from Lamos in the bottom half of the inning but was left stranded as Brown popped out to third to end the game.
The Tritons finished with 10 hits in the contest and were led by Lamos with three while Snemis added two more. Bradley pitched the final four innings and took the loss allowing an unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts.
Game 1 – UMSL 5 Ohio Dominican 2
UMSL fell behind early in its first game of the day giving up a run in the second inning. Ohio Dominican, (34-22), seeded sixth, loaded the bases with one out in the second with two singles and walk. With the infield playing in, Alexis Stevens popped one up behind second that VanGundy caught but her throw home wasn't in time as Alli Madden scored from third.
The Tritons took the lead in the fifth. VanGundy led off the inning with a single to left and scored on Travis' double to left center.
Courtney Settles followed with a single to center to put runners on the corner with nobody out. Lamos put UMSL in front hitting a sacrifice fly to center that scored Travis.
The Panthers tied the game in the sixth. With one out, Madden reached on a bunt single out in front of the plate and scored on Makaila Moses' two-out pinch-hit triple to right center.
The Tritons regained the lead plating three runs in the seventh. Lamos drove in Travis with the go-ahead run with a groundout to short to make it 3-2. With two out, Scaramuzzi singled to center to drive in Settles with the second run and advanced to second on the throw home. Snemis reached when the throw on her bunt attempt hit her in the back and rolled away far enough to allow Scaramuzzi to score.
ODU brought the tying run to the plate with two out in the bottom of the seventh but Scaramuzzi retired Kendrick Sterling on a pop up to VanGundy for the final out of the game.
UMSL had 11 hits in the contest and were led by Travis and Settles with three apiece. Scaramuzzi picked up the win in the circle giving up two runs on five hits while striking out 10 in the contest.
The Tritons finish their season with a record of 34-22.
