KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Truman State Softball won the opener 11-5 over Missouri-St. Louis on Sunday but dropped game two by an 8-6 score. The Bulldogs will await their fate for the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) tournament field, as the bracket will be announced Sunday evening.
The Bulldogs could potentially secure the eighth spot or be in a three-way tie with Rockhurst and Missouri S&T, depending on the outcome of their game in Kansas City. A tie at 14-14 would not favor the Bulldogs in the GLVC tiebreaking scenarios.
Back to the field action: The Bulldogs flirted with danger early in game one as the Tritons loaded the bases to start. A strikeout and a flyout ended the threat, and the Bulldogs turned the tide in the bottom of the first.
Truman sent nine hitters to the plate, recording six hits, including three doubles, to score five runs and take the early lead. A double by Emily Wood broke the school's single-season record with her 22nd of the season, surpassing Elizabeth Economon's 2001 total of 21.
The Tritons broke through with three runs in the second to tighten the game.
Things settled down until a triple by Caragan Baker scored Madi McCarty in the fifth, and Baker came home on a groundout by Charlotte Chelich to make it 7-3.
UMSL got those runs back in the sixth, but the Bulldogs put the game away with a four-run frame.
Maddie Hickman went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, Nina Fenasci was 3-for-4 with two doubles, and Cassie Smith was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Lydia Feiste picked up the win in relief, tossing five-plus innings.
Game two saw early fireworks, with UMSL plating two runs in their first at-bat while the Bulldogs' first five hitters all singled, scoring two runs. A caught stealing at home shifted the momentum, and UMSL escaped the jam with the game tied.
The Tritons took advantage of three Bulldog errors in the second, scoring five runs to go up 7-1, forcing Truman to play catch-up.
The Bulldogs got a run back in the second and scored two in the fourth to make it 7-5.
They had runners on first and third with one out in the fifth but failed to score.
UMSL added an insurance run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth to make it 8-5.
In their last at-bat, Avaree Taylor singled to start, and Baker followed with a double. On the relay home, the ball skipped away, and Taylor tried to score but was tagged out at the plate. Baker scored on a sacrifice fly by Michaela Goad, but that was as close as the Bulldogs got.
Fenasci collected three more hits in the second game, with Taylor also recording three hits.
