JOPLIN –
Kaelie Smith had four hits, five RBIs and scored two runs to lead the Drury softball Panthers to a pair of wins, 8-3 over Northeastern State and 2-1 over Missouri Southern Sunday at the Teri Mathis Zenner Memorial Tournament.
Drury is now 4-6, Northeastern State falls to 11-7 and Missouri Southern is now 8-9.
In the opener Northeastern struck first scoring on a wild pitch in the opening inning. Drury took the lead in the third inning when Smith singled to score
Kari Hillenburg and
Rachael Michaelis and
Karlie Peck stole home for a 3-1 Panther lead. The RiverHawks got one run back on an RBI single to cut the Panther lead 3-2 after four innings.
Smith continued to prove too much to handle for Northeastern with two more RBIs on a triple to right that scored Hillenburg and Peck in the Panther fifth.
Grace Hargadon followed up with an RBI single to bring Smith home. The fifth continued when
Alyssa Sargent singled to score
Abbey LeJong to make it 7-2 Drury. Kelly Conway added an RBI groundout to score
Chantal Oelrich and cap off a five run five hit fifth inning to make it 8-2 Drury over Northeastern.
The RiverHawks added a run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI groundout.
Smith had three hits, four RBIs and scored a run to pace the Panthers who finished with 12 hits. Hillenburg and Peck each finished with two hits and two runs. Madison Boyd had four hits in the RiverHawks nine hit effort.
Shelby Weissenbch (2-3) earned the win for the Panthers and Taryn Gray (3-3) received the loss for the RiverHawks.
In the nightcap Smith put DU on top in the third on an RBI groundout that scored Hillenburg. Drury made it a 2-0 lead with an RBI single by Hargadon to plate Smith. A wild pitch allowed Southern to cut the lead in half 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth but the Lions could draw no closer.
Conway led Drury with three hits and Hargadon added two hits to help DU finish with 10 hits. The Lions had five hits in the contest.
Weissenbach (3-3) earned the win with five strikeouts and Taureen Guzman (2-2) received the loss.
Drury will host Missouri Southern on Tuesday at Thompson Field with action starting at 2 p.m.