In a rare Friday afternoon home doubleheader, the University of Evansville softball team dropped a pair of games to Missouri State at Cooper Stadium.
The Bears (22-14, 7-4 MVC) took game one by a 4-1 final in nine innings before earning a 6-5 victory over the Purple Aces (11-21, 4-6 MVC) in the second contest.
Evansville opened game one with a run in the top of the first. Mea Adams reached on a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Brittany Hay. She would later score on a single by Elyse Hickey.
MSU starter Erin Griesbauer found her groove after the first inning, giving up one hit over the next four frames. The Bears offense was able to tie the game on a Madison Hunsaker single in the fourth.
In the bottom half of the fourth, Evansville had a chance to retake the lead, but a double play with the bases loaded ended the threat and kept the game tied up. The score would remain that way as the squads headed into extra innings. Missouri State saw their leadoff batter reach second on an error before Morgan Florey buckled down with two strikeouts and a pop up to get out of the inning.
Darian Frost broke the tie in the top of the ninth, leading off the frame with a home run. Kelly Metter added some insurance with a 2-run shot later in the inning to help the Bears take a 4-1 win. Both pitchers went the distance. Griesbauer won her sixth game of the year, allowing four UE hits. Florey struck out 12 in the game and now stands at 597 in her career.
Missouri State grabbed an early lead in the second contest, plating three in the top of the second. Kaitlin Beason had an RBI groundout as the other two crossed the plate on a walk and hit batter, each with the bases loaded.
Facing the early deficit, UE made its way back into the game in the bottom half of the second. Hickey reached on a 1-out walk to bring McKenzie Johnson to the plate. She responded, delivering her fifth home run of the season, bringing the Aces back within one.
MSU stormed back with two more in the fourth and had runners on second and third with no outs. Freshman Jaime Nurrenbern entered the game at that time and immediately ended the threat as she struck out the side to keep it a 5-2 game in favor of the Bears. They added a sixth run on their 10th hit in the top of the seventh.
Never giving up, the Aces opened up the seventh inning in spectacular fashion. Eryn Gould and Lindsay Renneisen reached with no outs and Morgan Florey brought them home with a long home run to center field, getting the Aces within one at 6-5. Mea Adams then came through with two outs, lacing a single to center to bring home Toni Galas for the tying run. The momentum was short-lived for UE as the Bears rallied back with a run in the eighth as they held on for a 7-6 win in eight frames.
Nurrenbern matched her career mark with five innings of work. She struck out five and allowed two hits. She also picked up a hit at the plate. Mea Adams and Renneisen each posted two hits apiece as UE finished with ten. For the Bears, Daphne Plummer went 4-4 with three runs batted in. Holly Kelley went 1 1/3 innings to get the win while Griesbauer, the winner in game one, got the final two outs to earn the save.
