(BENTONVILLE, Ark.) – Jennies softball (5-5) split two games Saturday at the UAM 7-State Classic in Bentonville, winning game one over Ouachita Baptist 12-2 before falling to Southern Nazarene in game two, 11-1.
The Jennies used a seven run fourth inning to pull away for the win against Ouachita Baptist in the first game of the day.
UCM took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first after Jill Lucas singled to score Braylyn Bivens.
Ouachita Baptist responded in the bottom of the second with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead.
The Jennies bats came alive in the top of the fourth, plating seven runs to take a commanding 8-2 lead. The seven runs were highlighted by a bases-clearing RBI double by Bivens and then back-to-back home runs from Jakki Prater and Lucas. The round tripper by Lucas was her second in two days.
The Jens added another run in the fifth to make it 9-2 when Brittany Knabe singled to score Ali Jo Rogers and then three more in the seventh to roll to the 12-2 win. Medora West scored the Jennies first run in the seventh when she grounded out, driving in Kristen Heil. Rogers then scored on a Tiger error and Knabe plated the third run after scoring on a Ouachita Baptist passed ball.
The Jennies out hit the Tigers 12-10 and only committed one error to Ouachita Baptist’s two.
Prater pitched 5.1 inning in relief, striking out four while allowing only four hits to improve her record to 3-1 on the season.
In game two against the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm the Jennies could only muster a single run and fell 11-1.
Ashlea Bengtson had the lone RBI for UCM after she hit a ground ball to score West.
The rest of the game belonged to the Crimson Storm as they plated three runs in the first, one in the second, three in the third and four in the fourth to roll to the win.
The Jennies return to the diamond Sunday, Feb. 17 when they play the final two games of the UAM 7-State Classic. The Jens will face Oklahoma Panhandle at 9 a.m. before concluding with Southwestern Oklahoma at 11 a.m.