(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – Behind the right arms of seniors Katie Shockley and Jakki Prater, Cental Missouri swept No. 9 Emporia State 2-1 and 5-2 Saturday afternoon. The wins improve the Jennies to 26-10 overall and 8-2 in the MIAA. It is also their first sweep of ESU since 2003.
Shockley and Prater set the tone for the Jennies, both throwing complete games to earn their 10th wins of the season.
Game One: UCM 2, ESU 1
In game one, the Jennies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Junior Ali Jo Rogers led off with double to right center and would swipe third base. With one out, Prater brought Rogers home on a sacrifice fly, her 32nd RBI of the season.
Still leading 1-0, UCM added a second run in the bottom of the fourth. Sophomore Lindsey Dawson and Prater delivered back-to-back singles and the next batter, Alex Leonhart, singled up the middle, plating Dawson to give the Jennies a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the sixth with two outs, Stephanie Goodwin singled down the left field line and later advanced to second on a single by Jessica Gragg. The next batter, Kaitlyn Caston reached on a fielder’s on a groundball to the Rogers at short, who threw it away to third base, allowing the Hornets’ first run to come across and make it a 2-1 ballgame. The run snapped a 13 inning scoreless streak for Jennies Shockley.
Shockley got herself in a bases loaded jam in the top of the seventh, but got Goodwin to swing and miss on a full count to pick up her 10th win of the season.
Shockley has now earned wins in her last six starts. She pitched seven full innings allowing one run, zero earned on four hits while striking out six and walking three.
Dawson knocked two of the Jennies six hits, while Prater and Leonhart picked up the RBI.
Game Two: UCM 5, ESU 2
Prater picked up in the circle where Shockley left off. She kept the Hornets off the scoreboard while the Jennies built a 4-0 lead.
UCM got on the board early as Giacone scored on a Hornet error to put the Jens up 1-0 in the second. The Jens then tacked on three in the third, two coming off of Lauren Mabe’s two-run home run, her second of the season.
ESU cut the lead in half on a two-shot homer of their own from Brenda Novelo in the fourth, making it a 4-2 ballgame.
Katie Giacone put the Jens back up three, 5-2, in the bottom half of the frame, crushing her third home run of the season to left-center.
That was all the scoring the Jens needed as Prater did the rest, keeping the Hornets scoreless through the final three innings. She went the distance, allowing five hits and two runs while striking out two and walking a pair.
The Jennies sprinkled seven hits, three coming from Mabe as she was a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.
It’s a short turn-around for the Jennies as they travel to St. Joseph, Mo. for a doubleheader with Missouri Western April 7, starting at 5 p.m.