FULTON, Mo.—In its final regular season home game on the 2015 season, the William Woods University softball team sent its seniors and the crowd home happy, as they defeated Stephens College 3-0 in game one and 9-1 (5 innings), in game two.
In between games one and two, the Owls honored its seven seniors, which were,
Megan Cooper,
Macy Wierschem,
Kacey Scharnhorst,
Grace Fritz,
Julie Scheer,
Sam Parsons and
Caroline Sicht.
William Woods University 3 Stephens College 0In game one, the Owls (23-22; 12-8 AMC), picked up the three run victory, thanks to the stellar outing from freshman
Bre Logan, who went the distance, allowing no runs on three hits, while striking out eight batters.
Â
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning, as Scharnhorst led the inning off with a triple to deep right field. Fellow senior, Sicht, successfully executed the squeeze play, allowing Scharnhorst to score from third and give WWU a 1-0 lead.
Â
Brailee Schulte and pinch-hitter
Beth Begemann, hit consecutive singles, putting runners on first and second. After a pop-out, Fritz, who returned to action after being out with an injury, picked up her first RBI on the year, as she doubled to deep left, scoring Schulte and Begemann, which extended the teams' lead out to 3-0.
Â
The Stars (7-27; 4-18 AMC), threatened in the top of the seventh, having runners on first and second with two out, but Logan got Alexa Ochoa to ground out to Sicht at third, which ended the game and gave the Owls the three run win.
Â
WWU totaled 10 hits in the game and were led by Schulte and Cooper, each having two hits, while
Sydnae Hatton, Scharnhorst, Sicht, Begemann, Parsons and Fritz added one.
Â
Katelyn Rush, meanwhile, took the loss for the Stars, as she went six innings, allowing three runs and struck out two.
Â
William Woods University 9 Stephens College 1In game two, it was the Stars this time around taking the early lead, as they went ahead 1-0, after Sarah Dooley doubled to left, scoring Monica Nakamatsu, who reached base on an error.
Â
The lead, however, didn't last long, as in the bottom of the first, the Owls plated three runs on three hits.
Shelby LeCuru got the inning started with a double to left-center. After Scheer bunted and reached base on the attempt, Scharnhorst tripled to right, scoring the duo of LeCuru and Scheer, which gave WWU a 2-1 lead.
Â
Sicht then made it a two run lead, as she hit a sacrifice fly to center, which scored Scharnhorst from third.
Â
In the bottom of the second, the scoring frenzy continued, as the Owls scored four runs on five hits, getting RBI from Scharnhorst and Sicht, while the other two runs were scored on an error and a passed ball, which allowed Wierschem to score from third, who led the inning off with a triple.
Â
A Cooper sacrifice fly and a LeCuru RBI double in the third, pushed the teams' lead out to 9-1. That lead was more than enough for Scheer, who picked up the win, as she went 4.0 innings, allowing one run (zero earned) on two hits and struck out three.
Â
Allison Waskow came on in the fifth inning and closed the door on the Stars, as she struck out one and secured the win for WWU.
Â
The offense totaled 12 hits in the game and were led by LeCuru, as she went 3-for-3 at the leadoff spot, totaling two runs scored and one RBI. Scharnhorst had another strong day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a game-high three RBI, while Sicht went 1-for-2 with two RBI.
Â
The Owls will return to action tomorrow afternoon, as they pay a visit to Missouri Baptist University, in another key American Midwest Conference (AMC) series. First-pitch will be thrown at 3 p.m.
Â
The Spartans (22-11; 13-6 AMC), currently sit 1.5 games head of the Owls in the conference standings, as they are holding down the No. 4 seed.
Â
MBU, is coming off a doubleheader loss today against Lindenwood-Belleville, as they dropped game one 5-4 and game two, 5-3.
Â
On the year, Missouri Baptist, has a team batting average of .334 and are led by Payton Anderson's .313 average, as she leads the team in runs scored (25), home runs (10), RBI (36) and slugging percentage (.826).
Â
Andrea Chessor, is batting .389 (28-for-72), while Corey Pitchford, is hitting .361, with 23 runs scored, eight doubles, two triples, two home runs and 17 RBI. Kelsey Snider is leading the Spartans with 11 stolen bases and is batting .348 through 29 games, while Mikala Torrence and Kara Pochon both are batting .333 respectively.
Â
Inside the circle, Madison Calvert leads the quartet of pitchers, as she is 7-0 with a 2.05 ERA in 41.0 innings pitched. Jena Trombley, is 5-3 with a 2.25 ERA in 65.1 innings of work, while Chessor is 7-5 with a 2.84 ERA and leads the team with 40 strikeouts in 74.0 innings.
Â
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and scores from St. Louis, Missouri.