KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - With Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Tournament chances on the line and Wisconsin-Parkside in town for the 2018 home finales, the Truman State University softball team stepped up on Sunday afternoon. The Bulldogs grinded out a pair of one-run victories over the Rangers, 2-1 and 3-2, and both games were tied heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Truman (24-18, 13-13 GLVC) reeled in its seventh sweep of the season and third in league play while Wisconsin-Parkside (18-24, 9-15 GLVC) has lost six in a row and is ineligible for the GLVC Tournament. Game one's win for the Bulldogs marked their first in 11 tries in which they scored two or less runs. Also, the Purple and White have now played 22 games this season that were decided by two runs or less and they are 13-9 in those contests.

Sunday, Riley Cook (pictured) was a spark plug for the Bulldogs at the top of the order as she collected five hits in her eight at-bats (.625 batting average) to go with two RBI and not a single strikeout. Since moving to the leadoff spot in the lineup five games ago, Cook has hit .421 (8-for-19) with four runs scored and no strikeouts.

Aside from the senior left fielder on Sunday, Christa Reisinger (3-for-6) and Ashley Murphy (3-for-7) each collected three hits on the day. Reisinger had three stolen bases in the two games, but was caught for the first time in 38 tries with a throw down to second base in the bottom of the third of game two. Speaking of new spots in the lineup, Murphy hit in the two hole for the last four games and hadn't done that all season. In those four outings, the senior first baseman hit .429 (6-for-14) with three extra-base hits.

Game one staged a pitching duel between the Rangers' Allison Hausl and the Bulldogs' Lauren Dale. Neither team scored until the top of the seventh inning when Dale hung a pitch to Morgan Sikon who put it over the fence in left field to lead off the inning. Wisconsin-Parkside was able to put runners on first and second with two outs before Alyssa Rivera stepped on third for a groundout to get it to the bottom of the seventh.

With one out, Adrienne Compton pinch-hit for Michaela Mooney and singled to the shortstop. Kadie Orenstein then pinch-hit for Mackayla Gordon and Mooney re-entered to run for Compton at first. After Orenstein walked to put runners on first and second, Millie Moyer pinch-ran for her at first. The lineup then flipped over for Cook who reached on an error by the shortstop to load them up for Murphy who played the role of hero. Murphy blooped a single over the head of the second baseman, both Moyer and Mooney scored, and Truman had won it.

In the circle, Dale (10-9) was brilliant for the third-consecutive outing and her 12th complete game of the spring. Dale gave up just one earned run (her first allowed in 18 and a third innings) on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Dale has now struck out at least six batters in a game four times in her career, but Sunday marked the first time that she didn't allow more than one earned run at the same time. This week, the junior right-hander had an absurd 0.39 ERA in 18 innings of work.

In the nightcap, Truman was first to score as Reisinger singled in Murphy in the first and Cook brought in Brooke VunCannon in the second. The score would stay 2-0 until the fifth and sixth innings when Wisconsin-Parkside scored a run in each to knot it up at 2-2.

In the home half of the sixth, Morgan McMahan got the party started with a single to center. One out later, Jamie Fowle was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second for Compton. Compton's fielder's choice retired the lead runner before Gordon walked to load them up for Cook who singled in Fowle, the go-ahead run.

Alyssa Hajduk (11-6) pitched well in her own right as she went the distance for the sixth time this season. Hajduk gave up just two earned runs on six hits with three free passes and five punchouts.

Next up, Truman is at rival, Quincy, on Saturday (12 p.m.) for a doubleheader and the regular-season finales.

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