Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BATESVILLE, Ark.—For the first time since the 2009 season, the No. 21-ranked William Woods University softball team has won the American Midwest Conference regular season title, as they defeated Lyon College today 2-0 (9 innings) in game one and 8-5 in game two.

"It is great to bring the AMC trophy back to Fulton," said head coach Tracy Gastineau. "We play in a large and diverse conference, so to win that regular season championship is no easy feat. I am very proud of this team."

William Woods University 2 Lyon College 0 (9 innings)
Heading into today's games, all the Owls (34-15; 20-2 AMC) needed to do was win just one game, but faced a tough challenge against a Lyon College (17-23; 9-13 AMC) team, that entered the doubleheader winning four out of its last five.
 
The pitching for the Scots, which has been a weak point throughout the year, turned out to very good against a high-powered Owls offense, as Savannah Fuller, who came into the game with a 4.74 ERA, pitched arguably her best game on the season.
 
Through the first six inning of play, the game scoreless, as Owls starter MacKenzie Bowden and Fuller worked through the opposing lineups rather quickly on the rubber.
 
In the top of the seventh, Emily Murphy led the inning off with single, and advanced to second after Macy Wierschem hit a sacrifice bunt. Fuller, however, got the next batter to pop-out, and even though Caroline Sicht worked a two-out walk, Fuller was able to get out of the jam, as she got Beth Begemann to fly out.
 
Katherine Bartley led off the home half of the seventh with a single to left, and stole second during Tess Brown at-bat, who later struck out. Savannah Graham then came to the dish and singled to short, putting the winning run just 60 feet away.
 
Graham stole second, but that didn't bother Bowden, as the Hartsburg, Mo., native, struck out Lexi Reyes and got Haley Huffstuttler to fly out to right, so it was off to extra innings.
 
After both pitchers retired the sides in the top and bottom of the eighth, William Woods was finally able to break through in the ninth. Lindsey LeCuru reached base on an error by the Scots defense, and Murphy moved the senior to second after laying down a sacrifice bunt.
 
Wierschem then hit a double to left-center, scoring Lindsey LeCuru and giving WWU the 1-0 lead. With Bowden on the mound, a one-run lead is more than enough, but after a Alexi Cavins single, which put Wierschem on third, hot-hitting Caroline Sicht brought home Wierschem with a sacrifice fly and put the Owls up 2-0.
 
Bowden went ahead and retired the side in the bottom of the ninth, which gave the Owls numerous things, including its seventh straight win, the AMC regular season title, the No. 1-seed in the upcoming AMC tournament and an automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Round.
 
"The automatic berth to Nationals is exciting because last year was such a whirlwind winning the AMC tournament and then the quick turnaround to head down south to Jackson, Miss.," said Gastineau. "This year will be a different kind of excitement knowing we are going, but we still will work hard to try and take home the AMC tournament trophy again."
 
Bowden picked up her 17^th win on the season, which tied her career-high set back during her freshman year, as she went the distance today, allowing just two hits and struck out nine, but tied her season-high with seven walks. The nine strikeouts give the hurler 233 on the season, which sets a new career-high, surpassing the previous mark of 227 set back in 2011.
 
Fuller took the tough loss for Lyon, as she allowed two runs (zero earned) on six hits and struck out one Owl.
 
Offensively, the team totaled six hits, led by Lindsey LeCuru going 2-for-4 with one run scored. Murphy, Wierschem, Cavins and Sicht added one hit each.
 
William Woods University 8 Lyon College 5
Game two started on a high note for the Owls in the first, as junior Kacey Scharnhorst hit a two-out home run, her third of the season, over the wall to put WWU up 1-0. Lindsey LeCuru singled, and she scored on Murphy's double to left, extending the advantage up to 2-0.
 
Wierschem added the third straight hit in the inning, as she singled to left, which scored Murphy and put the scoreboard at 3-0 William Woods. Sicht, an Ashland, Mo., native totaled her 10^th RBI in four games, as her single to left, brought home Wierschem and the Owls were well in control after one-inning of play.
 
The four-run lead, however, disappeared in the top of the third, as the Scots totaled four runs on five hits, capped off by Fuller's two-run double to left-center, which tied the game up at 4-4 and now it was a brand new ball game, for only a short while.
 
The Owls regained the lead in the home half of the third, scoring two runs on three hits, getting RBI from Murphy and Wierschem to give WWU a 6-4 lead.
 
Fuller struck again in the top of the fifth, doubling to deep right-center, which scored Huffstuttler from second, after she reached base with a one-out single and now Lyon trailed by just one at 6-5.
 
That would be as close as the Scots would get the rest of the game, as the Owls would total another run in the fifth and sixth innings, and hold on for the three-run victory.
 
Schemmer picked up her 10^th win on the year, as in her 7.0 innings of work, the senior allowed five runs (four earned) on 10 hits and struck out six.
 
The offense totaled 12 hits in the game, led by Murphy going 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI. Sicht went 1-for-2 with two RBI, giving her 11 in four games, while Shelby LeCuru, Lindsey LeCuru and Wierschem each added two hits. Scharnhorst's home run was her lone hit in the game, as she finished 1-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI.
 
Stephanie Haft and Fuller accounted for all five Scots runs in the game, as the duo finished the game 3-for-7 with one run scored.
 
The Owls couldn't have closed out the regular season any better, as they won 17 out of their last 18 games and will now host the AMC Tournament Quarterfinal game against the No. 8 seed that is TBD, which is set to begin on Apr. 25^th.
 
"It is great to be the top seed but again, our conference has so many different teams with different challenges, that any postseason AMC game will be a test," said Gastineau. We hope to recover from the grind of the regular season and come out rested and ready to hit the ground running next week."
 
Fans stay updated on wwuowls.com next week for a full preview of the AMC Quarterfinal game and the Owls next opponent.

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