Lady Cougars Split a Pair on Spring Trip


	Lady Cougar Softball Recap Lady Cougars Split a Pair on Spring Trip written by Dave Parsons, Sports Information Director Game #1 Boxscore \| Game #2 Boxscore CLERMONT, Fla. (3-19-2012) - The Mount Vernon Nazarene University women's fastpitch softball team split a pair of games on the team's annual spring trip on Monday afternoon as the Lady Cougars fell 10-0 to Augustana (S.D.) University and then bounced back to beat Midland (Neb.) University 4-2 at the National Training Center. The first game of the day was a pitchers' duel through the first three innings with NCAA Division II No. 23 Augustana (18-3) holding a slim 1-0 lead after scoring the lone run in the top of the first inning. However, in the top of the fourth inning, the Lady Vikings sent 13 batters to the plate and registered eight hits in the inning as Augustana scored nine times in the frame to take a 10-0 lead. One error in the inning opened the door for five of the runs to be unearned. The Lady Cougars managed just one hit in the game - a leadoff single by senior outfielder MacKenzie Shaw in the bottom of the first inning. Shaw also drew a walk, while senior first baseman Jenn Gulley was hit by a pitch. The only other base runner was sophomore outfielder Lindsey Minor, who reached on an error in the bottom of the fifth inning. Sophomore right-hander Ashley Riffell (1-1) suffered the loss as she allowed eight hits, one walk, and eight runs (four earned) over 3.1 innings with three strikeouts. Senior right-hander Meagan Stott tossed the final 1.2 innings and gave up five hits and two unearned runs. Janelle Trautmann earned the win for Augustana as she allowed just one hit and one walk over five innings with nine strikeouts. She also paced the offensive attack by going 3-for-4 with two RBI. In the second game, the Lady Cougars found themselves trailing 2-0 to Midland heading to the bottom of the third inning. Then, freshman catcher Morgan Wade doubled in a run in the bottom of the third inning and came around to score on a throwing error to knot the score at 2-2. MVNU took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when junior pitcher Jill Wildermuth reached on an error to lead off the inning, moved to second on an infield single by junior catcher Kayleigh Williams, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and came around to score on an RBI ground out by Minor. The Lady Cougars tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Back-to-back singles by junior second baseman Brittney Kuhn and Wade started the inning and Kuhn later came around to score on a double by junior third baseman Kelsey Berryman to increase MVNU's lead to 4-2. That would prove to be all the run support that Wildermuth (3-1) (left) needed as she limited the Lady Warriors to just seven hits, three walks, and two unearned runs over seven innings with one strikeout on her way to picking up the win for the Lady Cougars. Meanwhile, Kerra Grantski took the loss on the mound for Midland as she gave up eight hits, two walks, four runs (two earned) over six innings with five strikeouts. Wade and junior catcher Kayleigh Williams led MVNU with two hits apiece, while Autumn Gilbreth had two hits for the Lady Warriors. MVNU will be back in action on Tuesday with two more games. The Lady Cougars will face Savannah College of Art and Design (Ga.) at 3 p.m. and Midland again at 7 p.m.

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