Missouri Western stays hot, sweeps Missouri S&T in softball doubleheader

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Missouri Western softball continued its late-season surge Wednesday, sweeping Missouri S&T in a doubleheader at the Spring Sports Complex with a 2-0 win in Game 1 and a thrilling 6-5 extra-inning victory in Game 2.

The Griffons (26-19, 11-11 MIAA) have now won five straight and avenged a 4-2 loss to the Miners earlier this season at the Washburn Invite. Wednesday’s sweep marked their first non-conference doubleheader sweep of the year.

“You know, we’re at that part of the season where a win is a win at this moment in time, and however we get it done, and so we had a little slow start offensively,” Griffons head coach Nicole Thompson said. “We had a couple of innings where we did the little things right, and we came up with some clutch hits by Myah (Dwyer), and that's how it went.”

Game 1 belonged to senior ace Sydney Rader. The conference leader in strikeouts and second in ERA, the senior added to her dominant campaign by tossing a two-hit shutout, her seventh of the season. She struck out six, had one walk, and didn’t allow a runner past second base in her complete game.

Offensively, the Griffons broke through late. Sienna Reed drove in the opening run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Central Indians’ alum Myah Dwyer followed with an RBI single in the sixth to give Missouri Western all the cushion it would need. In fact, Dwyer would tally two of the three hits for Western in the first contest.

“Rader has been our go horse here for the whole year, and so she's just kind of, you know, fine-tuning some things at the end of the season and another non-conference to kind of just get into the strike zone,” Thompson said. “Myah did a great job… I still think that she's starting to find her swing.” 

The second game brought more fireworks after Missouri S&T tied the game in the top of the seventh and took a one-run lead in extra innings, the Griffons answered dramatically. Reed, who started the eighth inning at second base under international tiebreaker rules, scored on her second hit of the game to tie things at 5-5.

Then, with two outs and the bases loaded, Taylor Jones delivered the walk-off, a line drive single up the middle that scored Lauren Newlin from third.

“I think these are good times, especially mid-week. You know, it's another day that you're not practicing, and so it gets our positional players some more at-bats,” Thompson said. “We're working on some fine-tuning things to get us into postseason.”

Sydney Young led the Griffon offense in Game 2, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs, including a two-run double in the fifth. Reed finished a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Harley Pruetting (6-5) earned the win in relief, allowing three runs over the final four innings. She struck out three and stranded a pair of Miners in the top of the eighth to keep the deficit at one.

With the sweep, Missouri Western improves to 3-0 in extra-inning contests this season. The team now prepares for another non-conference series Saturday at home against Upper Iowa, with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.