KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman State University softball team is starting to gather some serious momentum and it couldn't be coming at a better time. Friday, the Bulldogs dodged the rain to sweep William Jewell at Truman Softball Park thanks to scores of 4-1 and 9-2. That makes 11 wins in 14 home games this season for the Purple and White including two doubleheader sweeps in a row and a five-game winning streak.

With the sweep, Truman improves to 30-16 overall, including 13-7 in the GLVC, while William Jewell falls to 19-19 on the year and 9-9 in league play. That makes four-straight 30-win campaigns for head coach, Erin Brown, and the Bulldogs as well as 15 for the history of the program. In fact, this is the first time Truman has reached the 30-win plateau for four seasons in a row since it happened in eight-straight years from 1999-2006.

Friday afternoon, the Purple and White were led by left fielder, Riley Cook, who had four hits in her six at-bats with two runs scored, four total bases and a stolen base. Behind the junior, Alyssa Rivera also had four hits (4-for-8, one run, two RBI, four total bases, and one stolen base) while Jamie Fowle (3-for-5, one RBI, three total bases, one stolen base) and Christa Reisinger (3-for-7, four runs, one double, one RBI, four total bases, and two stolen bases) each tallied three base knocks.

In the first game, the home team received a pair of RBI singles from Rivera, one by Ashley Murphy and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Lex Van Nostrand to earn its four runs. That was more than enough for Nicolette Simpson (13-5) who gave up just one earned run on six hits with one walk in six and two-thirds. In relief, Alyssa Hajduk tied the program's record for saves in a career with eight after just a third of an inning of work.

In the nightcap, Truman put up a nine spot with three runs in the first, three in the third, two in the fourth, and another in the fifth. It started in the first when Reisinger scored after Murphy reached on an error by the shortstop and that would be the story of the day for William Jewell's defense as it committed eight errors in the two games. The very next batter was Van Nostrand who went yard to left with a two-run shot, her ninth of the season and 28th of her career. The Cardinals would go on to get two runs back in the top of the third, but that was it for their offensive production.

In the third when the Bulldogs scored three runs, one came in on Morgan McMahan's groundout, another did so with a Fowle RBI single up the middle and the third was pushed across when Van Nostrand touched the dish thanks to an error by the shortsop on the throw down to second base. In the fourth, when Murphy reached on an error by the third baseman, Haley Wells scored, and Van Nostrand later was aboard with a fielder's choice to score Reisinger. The hosts' ninth and final run scored when Reisinger grounded out to second in the fifth and pinch-runner, Michaela Mooney, came all the way around.

Lauren Dale (14-6) went the distance for her 11th complete game of the season and picked up win No. 14, which is good for sixth in the GLVC. Along the way, Dale surrendered just two earned runs on four hits with only three free passes and eight punchouts.

Next up, Truman will host league-leading Rockhurst (26-16, 15-3 GLVC) for a doubleheader on Saturday with first pitch in game one set for 11 a.m.

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