(PLATTE CITY, Mo.) – Jennies Softball (13-7, 3-1 MIAA) ended their four game MIAA road swing by splitting a doubleheader with the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State Saturday afternoon at Platte Ridge Park.
The Jennies won game one 9-6 in 10 innings before falling in game two, 13-4.
The Bearcats struck first in game one, scoring a pair of runs on a double from Madison Jones to take an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
The Jennies cut the Bearcat lead to 2-1 in the top of the third when Emily Bybee-King scored on a fielder’s choice from Jill Lucas.
Jakki Prater gave the Jennies a 3-2 lead in the top of the third when she hit her team-high third home run of the season, a two-run shot that scored Braylyn Bivens.
The Jennies extended the lead in the top of the fifth to 5-2 when Emily Bybee-King hit the first home run of her career. The Bearcats cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom half of the inning on a two run home run from Stephanie Price.
The Bearcats knotted the game up at five the next inning when Jordan Ereth hit a sacrifice fly to center field.
The game remained tied at five through the seventh inning, forcing extra innings. Both teams struggled to score in the eighth and ninth innings taking the game to the tenth inning where the international tiebreaker rule was implemented, putting a runner on second base to start out each team’s batting portion of the inning.
The Jennies offense exploded for four runs in the top of the tenth to give them a 9-5 lead. The two runs came when Amanda Nally doubled to left field, driving in Ashlea Bengtson and Prater. Medora West then scored two more runs for the Jennies on a double to center field, allowing Brittany Knabe and Nally to cross home plate.
Northwest Missouri State could only muster a single run in the bottom of the tenth, giving Central Missouri the 9-6 victory.
The Jennies outhit the Bearcats in game one 13-5 and committed no errors compared to two Northwest miscues.
Prater, West, Bybee-King and Nally each tallied two RBIs for the UCM offense while Prater pitched her seventh complete game, striking out 12 in ten innings of work to move her record to 7-1 on the season. Jenna Creger took the loss for the Bearcats.
In game two the Jennies fell behind 3-0 and could never recover, leading to the 13-4 setback.
The Bearcats plated three runs in the first and then busted the game open in the bottom of the second with eight runs.
The Jennies got on the board in the top of the fourth when Bybee-King hit a three-run home run to cut the Bearcat lead to 11-3 and added a single run in the top of the fifth when West hit a solo shot to right field but that would be all the Jennies could muster as the Bearcats added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game with the 13-4 win.
The Jennies were outhit in game two 8-6 and committed one error.
Megan Schallom suffered the loss, dropping her record to 0-1 on the season while Abbie Vitosh got the win for the Bearcats.
The Jennies return to action Tuesday, hosting an MIAA doubleheader at the South Recreation Complex against the Washburn Lady Blues. First pitch for game one is slated for 1 p.m.