From staff reports
sports@joplinglobe.com
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Kelli Bax and Trish Washburn drove in three runs apiece to spark Missouri Southern to a 10-4 victory over Northeastern State on Tuesday afternoon in a college softball game.
The Riverhawks, however, bounced back for a 6-2 victory in the second game, earning a split in the doubleheader that was postponed one week earlier.
In the opener, Bax hit an RBI single in the second inning and two-run double in the fifth, and Washburn delivered an RBI single in the sixth and a two-run single in the seventh.
Brooke Hurley contributed three hits, one of them a two-run single in the fourth, and Natalie Nelson also had two hits for the Lions (3-5), who had a total of 13 hits.
The Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Washburn walked with one out, and Lauryn Berger was hit by a pitch. Andrea Childs doubled down the right-field line to score both runners, and after Nelson walked, Childs scored on Bax’s single to center.
Whitney Clute allowed six hits and three runs in six-plus innings to improve her season record to 3-0, and Tara Kuykendall pitched a hitless seventh.
The Lions had six hits — including two apiece by Berger and Bax — in the second game, and the Riverhawks (1-10) scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to snap a 2-2 deadlock.
The Lions scored both of their runs in the second when Berger singled with one out, Randi Russell walked with two outs, and singles by Nelson and Bax each scored a run.
Lion starter Kelsey Williams (1-3) allowed seven hits and five runs in four innings, and Kuykendall gave up a run and a hit in two innings.
The Lions journey to Bentonville, Ark., for four games this weekend, facing East Central (Okla.) and Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday and Arkansas-Monticello again in a Sunday twinbill.
