ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis softball team split its first two games on Wednesday at the Spring Games at the Auburndale Softball Complex in Winter Haven, Fla.
Game 1 - UMSL 2 Winona State 1
The Tritons (8-8) fell behind as the Warriors (15-4) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first. With one out, Sam Keller reached on an error by
Lexi Sherrick and went to third on an error by
Irene Travis on a ground ball off the bat of Carly Engelhardt. Teaghen Amwoza lined a ball back up the middle that was knocked down by
Ashley Borowitz. Travis picked it up and tried to throw out Keller at the plate but her throw was offline allowing Keller to score and Amwoza advanced to second.
Borowitz avoided further damage getting a foul out to first and a strike out looking to end the inning.
UMSL took the lead in the third. With one out,
Maddie Snemis reached on a fielding error by the shortstop and scored on
McKenzie Lamos' two-run homer to right.
Winona State got the tying run on base in each of its next four at-bats but was unable to push across the tying run.
The Tritons finished the contest with four hits and were led by
Simia Spahiev with two hits while Lamos and
Gwyn Miller had one each. Borowitz threw a complete game allowing one unearned run on three hits while striking out four to improve to 6-4 on the season.
Game 2 – Minnesota Duluth 6 UMSL 1
The Bulldogs (14-5) scored three times in the top of the second to take the early lead. Kendal Johnson drove in Kiana Bender with a sacrifice fly to left for the first run of the game. Kate Mohr and Morgan McMillan also had RBI singles in the frame.
UMSL got a run back in the third as Lamos drove in her third run of the day with a single back up the middle scoring Miller. The Tritons had a chance to tie the game but
Jamie Widule popped up to second with the bases loaded to end the inning.
UMD got that run back in the fourth as Mohr and Johnson executed a double steal. Mohr stole second and Johnson stole home on the throw to second.
The Bulldogs got their final two runs in the seventh. Tori Wietgrefe drove in Sierra Thomas with a pinch hit double to right center. Wietgrefe scored on a throwing error by Lamos on a ball hit by Dea Deleon for the final run of the contest.
The Tritons were held to four hits in the nightcap with Snemis, Lamos, Widule and
Megan Russell recording a hit apiece. Sherrick took the loss giving up six runs on seven hits with five strikeouts to fall to 1-4 on the season.
UMSL returns to the diamond on Thursday taking on fifth ranked Grand Valley State at 9 a.m. (CST) and Wayne State (Neb.) at 1:30 p.m. (CST) at the Auburndale Softball Complex in Winter Haven, Fla.
