KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After taking the opener 6-2, the Truman Softball team rallied from a 5-1 deficit to force extra innings but the Rockhurst Hawks prevailed in the bottom of the eighth with a 6-5 win to split the final road doubleheader for the Bulldogs on Saturday.
Truman returns home on Sunday to close out the season against the William Jewell Cardinals for Senior Day starting at noon.
Game 1: Truman State 6, Rockhurst 2
Mackenzie West staked the Bulldogs out to a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single to score
Cassie Smith.
Rockhurst jumped on top in the fourth on a two-run homer by Calli Wibbenmeyer but the Bulldogs were able to manufacture a tying run in the fifth.
Macy Taylor bunted for a hit then swiped second. She moved to third on a groundout. Taylor would cross the plate on a sacrifice fly by
Emily Eberwine.
In the sixth, Klein stroked her third home run of the season to break the tie.
The Truman defense turned a double play to end the bottom of the sixth and the Bulldogs added some key insurance runs in the seventh.
Cameryn Patterson laced a one-out double to score both
Alex Beard and West to make it 6-2.
The Hawks threatened in their last at bat and loaded the bases with one out. Klein got a Rockhurst hitter looking at the plate then a force play at third base ended the game.
Klein hurled all seven innings in the circle and struck out five while allowing just the two runs on six Rockhurst hits for her sixth win of the season.
Game 2: Rockhurst 6, Truman State 5 (8 Innings)
Gwen Bostick's RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning let Rockhurst prevail 6-5. The Hawks pushed across the winning run after the first two batters were set down.
Alex Beard and
Cameryn Patterson joined to collect five of the eight Bulldog hits and teamed up with back-to-back doubles in the seventh inning as Truman rallied from being down 5-1 to send the game into extras.
Beard got things going in the top of the first as her two-out single scored leadoff hitter
Cassie Smith.
Rockhurst answered with their own two-out single in the bottom of the first.
A solo home run in bottom of third made it 2-1 Hawks and they added three in the fourth to go up 5-1.
The Bulldogs loaded bases in fifth and Beard collected her second hit and RBI by driving in
Maria McGonegle to cut lead to 5-2.
Truman crept closer when a throwing error in the sixth brought
Callie Unrein in to score
Madi McCarty led off the seventh and was hit by a pitch, she would score on a double by Beard. Patterson followed to tie the game with another double and was on third base with one out but two straight foul outs to third ended the Bulldog threat.
The Bulldogs went in order in their half of the eighth and the first two were set down in the Hawks eighth. Leadoff hitter Shakiba singled through the right side and advanced to second on a walk. She would score on Bostick's single up the middle to end it.
