ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The 29th-ranked Wayne State University softball squad (39-14) suffered a 1-0 setback to No. 25-ranked Missouri-St. Louis (42-15 overall) on championship Saturday to force the if necessary game.
GAME ONE RECAP
The Tritons scored the game's only run in the top of the fifth. After the first batter was retired on a ground out, Ryan Logan reached on an error. Jennah Perryman smacked a 2-0 pitch up the middle which WSU shortstop
Hannah McClounie (Essex, Ont.) was able to knock down and keep in the infield. McClounie nearly turned a double play on a grounder by Reagan Osborn, but with two outs and runners on the corners Erin Walker blooped the first pitch over second base plating Logan.
Brooke Turkalj (St. Jacobs, Ont.) had a two-out double in the first but a fly out ended that frame.Â
Ashley Messina (Troy, Mich.) led off the third with a single, but a double play ended that threat.Â
Allie Buchanan (Cambridge, Ont.) reached second leading off the fourth on a dropped fly ball and was sacrificed to third by Turkalj. A ground out and strikeout ended that inning.
McClounie worked a nine-pitch walk to start the fifth and was sacrificed to second by
Kylee Barrett (Croswell, Mich. / Croswell-Lexington), but back-to-back fly outs to center ended the frame. Turkalj had a two-out single in the sixth, but Lucas' line drive to center was snagged by Sara Kern to end the inning.
Megan Guitar (Croswell, Mich. / Croswell-Lexington) led off the seventh with a single, but the next three batters were retired.
IN THE CIRCLE
Lyndsay Butler (Cambridge, Ont.) suffered the loss to fall to 24-9. She allowed the one unearned run on six hits with two strikeouts to zero walks.
Carly Kingery (26-7) tossed the four-hit shutout. She struck out six and walked one.
LEADING THE WARRIORS
Turkalj went 2-for-2 with a double, while Guitar and Messina had the other singles.
LEADING THE TRITONS
Perryman went 2-for-2, while Logan was 2-for-3 and scored the game's only run.
UP NEXT
Wayne State and UMSL will play the "if necessary" game at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.
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