KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman State University softball team run-ruled a Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) opponent for the second time on Saturday (Missouri S&T - March 26), but did it with a shutout for the first time with Lewis in town. The Bulldogs ran past the Flyers, 9-0, in six innings before dropping the rematch, 6-2.

Truman (22-18, 11-13 GLVC) continues to hold on to the eighth-place spot in the league standings with William Jewell breathing down its neck while Lewis (18-22, 7-15 GLVC) has split three of its last four doubleheaders. The top eight teams in the conference will make the postseason tournament on May 3-5 in East Peoria, Ill. and the Bulldogs have four games remaining in the regular season.

Saturday, four different players racked up three hits for the Purple and White including Christa Reisinger (3-for-5), Morgan McMahan (3-for-6), Alyssa Rivera (3-for-7), and Ashley Murphy (3-for-7). Truman also had an active day on the basepaths with nine stolen bases, including seven in game one. That's the most swipes for the Bulldogs in a single game since 2013 and the MIAA era when they had that many three different times.

In game one, Truman faced off against one of the best pitchers in the league in Lewis' Cassie Shaw, who entered the day with an ERA of 2.12. One hundred and eight pitches later, Shaw had given up nine earned runs and 12 hits for the first time this season as well as three home runs for the second time. In 2018, the junior hurler's ERA has been as low as 0.88 (March 10), but the Bulldogs bumped it up half a point to 2.62, its highest of the spring.

Offensively for the Purple and White, they scored in every inning except for the fifth and all 12 of those hits came from the top six spots in the order. Combined, those six hitters went 12-for-21 (.571 batting average) with eight runs scored, eight RBI and only one strikeout. Murphy, Rivera and McMahan each went deep and Rivera's two run shot to right center sealed it in the bottom of the sixth.

Lauren Dale (9-9) seems to be getting on track a bit after a second-straight appearance with no earned runs allowed. Dale went five innings with only four hits given up, not a single walk and four strikeouts. In relief, Alyssa Hajduk handled the final inning with just one hit on her line.

In the rematch, the starter, Nicolette Simpson (3-3), gave up three quick runs in the top of the first and Truman's offense was never quite able to get it going. The Bulldogs cut the deficit to two twice including 3-1 in the bottom of the first and 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth, but Lewis tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the seventh.

Simpson lasted just an inning and two-thirds with four earned runs to her name before Hajduk came in to work the final five and a third frames.

Next up, Truman will host Wisconsin-Parkside for a doubleheader on Sunday with the first pitch in game one set for 12 p.m.

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