ST. LOUIS -- The University of Missouri-St. Louis softball team split Sunday's doubleheader with Maryville, winning the first 4-3 before dropping the second 8-6
at the UMSL Softball Field . The split puts the Tritons at 14-16, 7-3 GLVC while the Saints are 16-16, 6-6 GLVC.
Game 1 – UMSL 4 Maryville 3
The Tritons jumped out to an early lead off a single to center field from
Kiley Sullivan that scored
May Pasqualini from third. Pasqualini had walked to start the inning off, before a sacrifice bunt and a ground out advanced her to third.
Maryville answered in the top of the second with Emily Erb doubling to left center before Marley Williamson doubled to the right of center to bring her home and tie the score at 1-1.
UMSL answered immediately.
Gracie Philpot singled to center field before stealing second. Then
Madison Rozanski singled to center field, bringing Philpot home to put the Tritons back on top 2-1.
A solo home run by Jenna Kosnoff in the top of the third retied the score at 2-2 for the Saints.
Maryville took the lead in the top of the fifth when Laila Ruiz walked with the bases loaded, bringing in a Payton Deakin to make it 3-2. The Saints still had the bases loaded but
Sasha Buckberger got Addison Koth to hit into an inning ending 1-2-3 double play.
The Tritons rallied in the home half of the sixth as
Phoebe Miller led off the inning with a single to right center and then Philpot hit her second home run of the season to center field to put UMSL back in front 4-3.
Maryville loaded the bases with two out in the seventh but Kaitlyn Wagner popped out to Rozanski to end the game.
The Tritons had eight hits in the contest and were led by Philpot with two. Buckberger pitched the final 2.2 innings giving up no runs on three hits with three walks to improve to 3-2 on the season.
Game 2 – Maryville 8 UMSL 6
The Tritons jumped out to another early lead in the second game. Pasqualini singled off Mandi Lenon's glove at third to start the contest. She advanced to third on
Jamie Widule's sacrifice bunt and scored on
Kaytie Kossina's double to left. Sullivan then singled to center field to bring Kossina home from second, giving the Tritons UMSL a 2-0 lead.
The Tritons added three more in the second starting with a sacrifice fly from Widule that brought Rozanski home from third base. Kossina hit an infield single on the next at bat, bringing home
Keira Hayton from third before a Sullivan double to center field scored Kossina to make it 5-0 in favor of UMSL.
The Saints roared back in the fourth thanks to a two-run homer by Miranda Bondurant to center field. Then, with the bases loaded, Kosnoff hit a grand slam to center field putting Maryville on top 6-5.
Pasqualini nearly tied the game with a long drive to left center with two out in the fifth but Deakin made a diving catch to take a double and an RBI from Pasqualini.
The Saints added two more in the sixth. With runners at second and third and no one out, Deakin laid down a perfect squeeze bunt scoring Marley Williamson from third. The Tritons got an unconventional 6-3-2 double play for the first two outs of the inning. Lenon made it 8-5 with a single to right scoring Deakin.
UMSL got a run back with two out in the sixth on a solo home run from Sullivan. It was her fourth home run of the season tying Miller for the team lead.
The Tritons outhit Maryville 13-9 in the second game and were led by Sullivan with a career-high four hits while Kossina added three.
Ashley Ware took the loss giving up six runs on five hits with four walks and three strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched to fall to 4-2.
UMSL returns to the diamond next Saturday (April 4) as it travels to Springfield to take on Drury in a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m. at Meador Park.
