Griffon softball headed to postseason

By Jacob Meikel

Missouri Western softball’s season will continue after grinding out a very competitive MIAA schedule.

The Griffs ended the regular season on Saturday with a doubleheader sweep of Lincoln, securing the seven seed in the MIAA tournament in Oklahoma this week.

Game one of the doubleheader in Jefferson City on Saturday turned out to be a historic day in the career of pitcher senior Sydney Rader. Rader took complete advantage of the inferior opponent by pitching a complete game and striking out a career single-game best 14 batters in route to the Griffs 8-1 victory. The win gave Rader her 14th of the season as she will be the likely ace for Western heading into the MIAA Tournament.

Game two of the doubleheader saw the Griffons not leave anything to the imagination of the Blue Tigers as they would once again assert themselves early by jumping out to a 4-0 lead after the top of the second inning and continue to cruise to a 12-4 victory for the sweep.

Western softball will play No. 10 seed Fort Hays State in the opening round of the conference tournament on Wednesday, May 1 at 5:30 p.m. on the campus of Central Oklahoma.