KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman State Softball team split a pair of one-run games with Upper Iowa University on Saturday. The Peacocks edged the Bulldogs 8-7 in the opener, while Truman walked off game two with a 7-6 victory. The Bulldogs will return to action at home on Sunday, hosting Lewis (Ill.) University, with the game pushed back one hour to a 1 p.m. first pitch.
Upper Iowa had an answer for every Bulldog lead and had to hold on at the very end for the 8-7 win in game one.
Kylie Doty hit a two-out home run in the second to stake the Peacocks to a 1-0 lead.
The Bulldogs answered back when Avaree Taylor belted a two-run shot in the fourth. However, the Peacocks got that run right back on a solo home run by Rae VanMilligan in their next at-bat.
Cassie Smith gave Truman the lead back with a sac fly in the bottom of the fifth, scoring Kyleia Salyars, but again UIU knotted things up in the sixth on a leadoff homer from Tristin Doster.
Charlotte Chelich untied the game with a two-out home run in the bottom of the sixth.
A one-out walk and a line drive just over the outstretched reach of the shortstop started a rally in the seventh for UIU that saw the Peacocks grab an 8-4 lead.
The Bulldogs made things interesting. With two outs, four straight singles plated three runs and loaded the bases for Truman State. Chelich just missed her pitch, getting under it and popping it up to second to end the game.
Too many free bases nearly led to a sweep, as Upper Iowa coaxed 10 walks against the Bulldogs but left 11 runners stranded in the second game.Â
Cassie Smith's two-out poke to the gap in right-center field scored Charlotte Chelich as Truman State won 7-6 after surrendering a 5-0 lead.
Smith manufactured the first run of the game with a single up the middle, followed by a stolen base, and took third on a wild throw. She scored on a groundout off the bat of Maddie Hickman. Emily Wood knocked a two-run homer in the third, and Madi McCarty laced a two-run double in the fourth to stake the Bulldogs to a 5-0 lead.
A two-run homer by Doty highlighted a four-run fifth for Upper Iowa, but Nina Fenasci got a run back for the Bulldogs with a two-out RBI single in the bottom half of the inning.
Upper Iowa hit their third leadoff home run of the day to start the sixth, then loaded the bases and tied the game with a walk at six apiece. Truman State wiggled off the hook as the Peacocks stranded the bases loaded, with Chelich retiring the final two batters.
The Bulldogs wasted a second-and-third opportunity with one out in the bottom of the sixth.
Upper Iowa went down in order in the seventh. Chelich was hit by a pitch with one out in the bottom of the inning and moved to third following walks issued to Fenasci and Kyleia Salyars. On a 3-2 pitch, Madi McCarty swung and missed, but Smith picked her up with the walk-off single.
McCarty, Smith, and Fenasci each collected a pair of hits in game two.
