HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. - After scoring a combined 11 runs in its first four games of the season, the Truman softball team's bats came to life on day one of Trevecca Nazarene's Music City Invitational against Saginaw Valley State. The Bulldogs belted out 12 runs on 17 hits to make quick work of the Cardinals in six innings, 12-4.

With the win, Truman has won two in a row to improve to 2-3 overall while Saginaw Valley State dropped both ends of a doubleheader on its first day of the season. For the day, five different Bulldogs had at least two base knocks and three of them had three hits apiece. In the circle, Alyssa Hajduk got the start and went 2.1 innings before Nicolette Simpson came in for the final 3.2 frames to earn her first victory in the Purple and White (1-1).

In the first, Lex Van Nostrand put Truman up 1-0 with an RBI single to the pitcher that scored Christa Reisinger before the Bulldogs dished out a four spot in the second. That inning, Riley Cook, Jamie Fowle and Alyssa Rivera each had RBI singles while Van Nostrand cracked a run-scoring double that scored Cook on her second RBI of the game. Saginaw Valley State cut the margin to one, 5-4, with one in the second, two in the third and one in the fourth, but the Bulldogs stood tall.

In the fifth, Truman brought in five runs followed by two in the sixth to put Saginaw Valley State away via the run rule. For the fifth frame, Ashley Murphy went yard with a grand slam to straightaway center, the sixth bomb of her career, and Kadie Orenstein doubled in Rivera. The following frame, Murphy pushed Michaela Mooney across the dish with a sacrifice fly and Van Nostrand rattled off her third RBI of the game with a single that scored Cook to give the Bulldogs their eight-run victory.

Next up, Truman stays in Tennessee for a doubleheader on Saturday against Ohio Dominican (12 p.m.) and host, Trevecca Nazarene (2 p.m.).

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