KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Saturday afternoon, the Truman State University softball team welcomed in the top team in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings, Rockhurst, to Truman Softball Park. The Bulldogs won a thriller in game one, 4-3, before dropping a marathon of a game in the nightcap, 8-2, in 13 innings.

With the split, Truman now sits at 31-17 overall, including 14-8 in the GLVC, while Rockhurst is looking at a record of 27-17 on the season and 16-4 in league play. Saturday, the Bulldogs were led by Morgan McMahan's four hits in her 10 at-bats, one run scored, one double, one RBI, five total bases, and two stolen bases in two attempts. Behind the sophomore designated player, Christa Reisinger (3-for-7 with one run scored, three total bases, two walks, and one hit by pitch) and Alyssa Rivera (3-for-9 with three total bases) registered three base knocks each.

In the first game, Truman scored two runs in the first thanks to an RBI double from McMahan and McMahan coming home after Ashley Murphy reached on a fielding error by the third baseman. Valerie Schmidt made it 3-0 in favor of the Bulldogs with an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the third before Rockhurst got all three runs back in the fourth to tie things up. Fast forward to the bottom of the sixth with pinch runner, Brooke VunCannon, standing on second and Murphy came through in the clutch with an RBI single to right field for the game-winning RBI.

In the circle, Nicolette Simpson got the no decision after pitching just three innings with three runs given up, two earned, on five hits. Alyssa Hajduk (4-5) picked up the win in relief with four shutout frames, only four hits surrendered, one walk and three strikeouts.

In the nightcap, the Bulldogs faced a one-run deficit twice including 1-0 heading to the bottom of the fourth and 2-1 going to the bottom of the ninth. In the fourth, Murphy was the hero once again with an RBI single to center, and in the ninth, pinch hitter, Adrienne Compton, delivered with a single to right that allowed Schmidt to touch home plate after an error by the catcher on the throw back in.

However, four innings later, the Hawks put up a six spot in the top of the 13th before the Bulldogs stranded a runner in the bottom of the inning and fell by six runs.

Lauren Dale received a no decision and was brilliant with nine innings pitched and only two runs, one earned, given up on seven hits. For the week, Dale finished with a 1.31 ERA in 16 innings pitched, 13 punchouts and six free passes. Hajduk (4-6) took the loss in four innings pitched with six runs allowed, two of which were earned, five hits, one walk, and five strikeouts.

On the other side, the GLVC leader in ERA, Bridgette Sappington (19-5), threw all 13 innings for the win after picking up the loss in game one when she tossed 2.2 frames. With an astounding 195 pitches in the second game, the Rockhurst ace threw 238 of them for the doubleheader.

Next up, Truman hits the road for four games in a row starting with Bellarmine on Saturday, April 22 in The Bluegrass State. Game one of that doubleheader is slated for a 12 p.m. eastern start.

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