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Truman State University Athletics

Softball Tyler Madsen, AMR Assistant Director

Softball Picks Up Two Wins on Opening Weekend

Game 1 (Friday): Truman 4, Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) 1 || Box Score
Game 2 (Saturday): Truman 3, Christian Brothers (Tenn.) 2 || Box Score
Game 3 (Saturday): West Florida 10, Truman 7 || Box Score
Game 4 (Sunday): North Alabama 3, Truman 2 (8 inn.) || Box Score
Game 5 (Sunday): North Alabama 2, Truman 0 || Box Score
 
FLORENCE, Ala. - - The Truman softball team opened the 2014 season with two regional wins at the North Alabama Invitational, recording a team ERA of 1.82 and batting .244 as a squad.
 
The Bulldogs (2-3) lacked timely hitting in its three close losses, stranding a combined 23 runners on base against West Florida and North Alabama. Overall on the weekend, Kelsey Bollman (7-for-16) and Cate Simon (5-for-12) hit better than .400 individually, with Simon smacking two home runs and Bollman round-tripping one time. Whitney Richardson added a home run, while Liz Leath knocked two doubles.
 
In the circle, Truman's pitching staff gave up 18 runs in 34.2 innings of work, but only nine of those runs were earned as the Bulldog defense committed seven errors during its first prolonged outside activity of the spring. Kindra Henze went 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA, striking out a dozen in 18.2 innings, while Kelsea Dorsey went 1-2 with a 2.28 ERA, posting 10 strikeouts in 15.1 innings of action. The Bulldogs' five opponents hit just .193 against the Bulldog pitching staff, which also got 0.2 innings of relief from Jessica VanNostrand.
 
Truman returns to action with four games next Friday and Saturday (Feb. 21-22) at the Union (Tenn.) Invitational in Jackson, Tennessee.
 
Game 1 Recap – Truman 4, Trevecca Nazarene 1
Ally McReynolds tallied two hits and two RBI, and Bollman batted a perfect 3-for-3, as the Bulldogs opened 2014 with a 4-1 win against TNU. Henze pitched a complete game, striking out six and allowing just four base-runners.
 
Truman got on the board in the third inning, as a ball off Simon's bat was misplayed by the TNU third baseman, allowing J. VanNostrand to score from third. Then, in the fifth, the Bulldogs got back-to-back two-out RBI doubles off the bats of McReynolds and Alexis VanNostrand to push Truman's lead to 4-0.
 
Game 2 Recap – Truman 3, Christian Brothers 2
Kelsea Dorsey twirled a complete game in her first action in more than a year, and Nikki Moss' walkoff squeeze bunt plated A. VanNostrand in the last of the seventh, as Truman moved to 2-0 on the season with a 3-2 regional victory against CBU.
 
Richardson got things going in the fourth with a two-run shot to center that scored pinch-runner Hannah Wehar, but the Buccaneers rebounded in the top of the sixth with a two-run shot of their own. Then, in the seventh, VanNostrand and Corey Niblett singled with one out. Following a passed ball, Moss dropped a bunt, scoring VanNostrand for the winner.
 
Simon and Niblett had two hits apiece, while Dorsey struck out four and gave up four hits in her victory in the circle.
 
Game 3 Recap – West Florida 10, Truman 7
After building a 7-0 lead, the Bulldogs' defense unraveled in the fifth – allowing UWF to plate seven before the Argos added three more in the top of the seventh to come from behind. Six Bulldogs registered at least one hit, led by three from Leath and a pair of hits from Simon.
 
Simon began the scoring in the third with a three-run homerun, bringing home Leath and Andrea Klipsch. Then, in the fourth, Bollman delivered a two-run double that was followed immediately by a Leath RBI single. Simon punctuated the inning with an RBI double to push Truman's lead to 7-0.
 
However, UWF capitalized on two Truman errors in the fifth to score seven runs (four unearned) and knot the score. The Argos then added three in the seventh for the victory. Henze started and gave up three earned runs in four-plus innings of work, with J. VanNostrand entering in the fifth. Dorsey relieved the Bulldogs' starting shortstop later in the inning and finished the game, getting saddled with the loss after allowing three runs in 2.1 innings.
 
Game 4 Recap – North Alabama 3, Truman 2 (8 innings)
Solo shots by Bollman and Simon weren't enough in the opener of Sunday's doubleheader with the host Lions, as UNA pushed across an extra-inning run to earn a 3-2 home win against the 'Dogs. A. VanNostrand recorded two hits, and Henze went the distance in the circle.
 
Bollman (3rd) gave Truman the lead, and Simon (6th) tied the score to force extra innings. Henze, meanwhile, went 7.2 innings, giving up three runs (none earned) and striking out five. McReynolds added a stolen base.
 
Game 5 Recap – North Alabama 2, Truman 0
A pitcher's duel closed out the weekend, and a two-run third inning double by the hosts proved to be the difference, as UNA blanked the Bulldogs 2-0 in the weekend finale. Dorsey threw a complete game, striking out two and giving up four hits (and no earned runs), while Bollman tallied two of the Bulldogs' four hits.

Leath notched a double for Truman's lone extra-base hit against UNA starter Hailey Carpenter. The Bulldogs' top scoring chance came in the top of the first, as Truman loaded the bases with one out but couldn't score.
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