(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – Jennies Softball (17-17, 7-9 MIAA) found themselves on the wrong end of an MIAA doubleheader sweep against Lindenwood (17-17, 8-8 MIAA) Saturday afternoon at the South Recreation Complex, dropping game one 6-5 and game two 7-4.
Game one saw the Jennies take an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on RBI doubles from Emily Bybee-King and Jakki Prater.
The Jennies added to the lead in the fourth inning when Ashlea Bengtson belted her third homer of the season to deep left-center field, plating two runs to make it 4-0.
UCM held on to the 4-0 advantage until the top of the sixth when Lindenwood’s Hannah Braun hit a grand slam to deep centerfield, scoring four to knot the game up at four.
Lindenwood then took a 6-4 lead in the top of the seventh on Deidre Merli double.
The Jennies cut the Lion lead to 6-5 in the bottom half of the seventh after Braylyn Bivens crossed home plate on a single from Bybee-King but the Lions ended the Jenny threat with a strikeout and ground out to hang on for the 6-5 win.
UCM was outhit by Lindenwood in game one 12-10, with the Lions committing two errors.
Jennies right-hander Jakki Prater struck out eight Lion batters in six innings of work but suffered the loss to drop her record to 8-5. Lindenwood’s Brooke Miller picked up the win.
In game two the Jennies fell behind 1-0 in the top of the second on a Kaitlynn Siebert single and extended the lead to 2-0 in the top of the third with a single from Merli. The Jennies cut the Lion advantage in half in bottom half of the inning after Bengtson singled to score a run and make it 2-1 Lions.
Lindenwood increased the lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth but UCM responded in the bottom half of the inning with three runs courtesy of an RBI single from Bybee-King and two RBI single from Prater to take the 4-3 lead.
The Lions answered with a single run in the top of the fifth to tie the game up at four, scoring on a UCM throwing error.
Lindenwood regained a 7-4 lead in the top of the seventh. The Lions scored a run on Merli’s double and then added another single run on Erin Pietzman’s single before getting the third run of the inning courtesy of Colvis fielder’s choice.
The Jennies couldn’t get a runner on the the bottom half of the inning, leading to the 7-4 setback.
The Jennies were outhit by the Lions for the second straight game, with only 10 hits to Lindenwood’s 13. Each team committed an error in game two.
Megan Schallom struck out three in a full seven innings of work for UCM but took the loss to drop to 0-4 on the season. Colvis got the win in the circle for Lindenwood.
The Jennies will be back on the diamond Wednesday, April 10 when they travel to Bolivar, Mo. for an MIAA doubleheader with Southwest Baptist. First pitch for game one is set for 2 p.m.