KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - After 14 games away from home to begin the 2017 season, the Truman softball team was glad to be back in Kirksville and it showed on Wednesday afternoon against Wayne State. The Bulldogs outscored the Wildcats 17-0 and out-hit them 23-5 en route to victories with scores of 9-0 and 8-0.

With the sweep, Truman gets back to the .500 mark overall at 8-8, while Wayne State has dropped seven in a row and now sits at 1-9 on the year. For the day, Jamie Fowle was a perfect 4-4 at the dish while a quartet of Bulldogs registered three hits including Riley Cook (3-5), Christa Reisinger (3-6), Alyssa Rivera (3-7), and Lex Van Nostrand (3-7).

In the first game, the home team scored three in the first, one in the second and five more in the third. In the home half of the first, with Reisinger standing on third, Ashley Murphy doubled her in and Murphy then came around to score when Van Nostrand reached on an error by the second baseman. Two batters later, Fowle got her day started with a single right back up the middle and Van Nostrand crossed the plate to put Truman up 3-0 early.

The very next inning, Morgan McMahan gave the Bulldogs a 4-0 advantage when she singled to the shortstop and pushed Murphy across. The scoring barrage continued in the third when Reisinger singled in Valerie Schmidt and Van Nostrand blasted a grand slam to left center, her second home run of the season.

In the circle, all of that scoring was more than enough for Nicolette Simpson (3-4), who lowered her team-best ERA to 3.03 through 37 innings pitched in her first season in the Purple and White. Wednesday, Simpson gave up two hits and struck out six in her five innings of work.

In the second game of the double dip, Truman's scoring was a little more spread out with one run in the first, four in the second, two in the fourth, and one more in the fifth. In the bottom of the first, Van Nostrand continued the hot start to her senior campaign with a double to left center that allowed Alyssa Rivera to come in. One frame later, Cook and Rivera each had an RBI single while Reisinger brought in a pair with her base knock up the middle. At that point, the Bulldogs were ahead 5-0 and in complete control.

Two innings later, Brooke VunCannon brought in Adrienne Compton with a hit down the right field line and Reisinger allowed Compton to score with a sacrifice fly to left. The eighth and final run scored in the fifth when VunCannon singled in Fowle and the Purple and White had won by way of the run rule for the second game in a row.

Lauren Dale (5-2) earned her team-leading fifth win with five shutout, three-hit innings, one walk and four punchouts.

Next up, Truman will host in-state foe, Central Missouri, on Saturday for a doubleheader set to begin at 1 p.m.

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