KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Pitching and timely hitting were the keys to success for the Truman softball team on Sunday as it picked up its ninth doubleheader sweep of the season, three of which have come within Great Lakes Valley Conference play. The Bulldogs won a nailbiter in game one, 2-1, before a 4-0 victory in the nightcap.

With the sweep, Truman improves to 28-16 overall, including 11-7 in the GLVC, while Maryville has been on the short end in 10 of its last 13 to fall to 17-21 on the year, 7-11 in league play. In a day that didn't see much offense, the Bulldogs were led by five players that had two hits each including Riley Cook, Lex Van Nostrand, Alyssa Rivera, Valerie Schmidt, and Christa Reisinger.

The first batter of game one for the Saints, Courtney Ferguson, hit an 0-1 pitch over the fence in left field, but the Bulldogs weren't going to let that set the tone for the day. After Ferguson, 51 more batters would come to the plate for Maryville and not a single one of them would come around to score. Truman's three pitchers completely took over and that's putting it lightly.

In game one, after the visitors went ahead 1-0 with that solo shot, the home team put up both of its runs in the bottom of the fifth. Haley Wells brought in Schmidt with a sacrifice fly to left and Rivera singled in Cook with a bunt to the third baseman. Getting the start in the circle for the Bulldogs was Nicolette Simpson (12-5) who pitched 5.2 innings with one earned run surrendered on five hits, no walks and one strikeout. Out of the bullpen, Alyssa Hajduk picked up her seventh save with a perfect inning and a third of work. Hajduk is now one save shy of tying the career record set by Kelsea Dorsey last season.

For the nightcap, Truman got an RBI double down the left field line from Cook in the second, Van Nostrand scored on a wild pitch in the fourth and Jamie Fowle pushed two across with a double to right center in the sixth. That was all the run support that starting pitcher, Lauren Dale, needed and more. Dale (13-6) went the distance for her 10th complete game and third shutout of 2017 with just four hits given up, two free passes and two punchouts.

Next up, the six-game homestand continues for the Bulldogs on Friday, April 14 as they host William Jewell with game one set to begin at 12 p.m. at Truman Softball Park.

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