St. Joseph, Mo. – Coming off two important in region wins a day ago, the Northern State University softball spilt with Northwest Missouri State and Pittsburgh State in the second day of the Missouri Western Tournament. After the 8-1 defeat of the Bearcats and 2-11 loss against the Gorillas the Wolves moved to 7-7 on the year and 3-1 in the tournament.
Game One: Northwest Missouri State
The Wolves came out hot in the bottom of the first inning batting through the line-up, after giving up one run in the top half to Northwest.
Kelsey Gale was 2-2 in the inning with a single, two runs scored and her first career homerun. Gale, along with
Kalie Maiden,
Eryn Yancy,
Macey Engel and
Ashley Clapp singled in their first appearances at the plate and scored a run.
Rachel Albright continued her fiery season opening with a homerun to left center field for two RBI. Yancy, Engel, and Gale each recorded two hits in the win and combined for five RBI.
Kami Smesmo notched the win giving up only one earned run and striking out five Bearcats in the process. Smesmo improved to 5-2 on the year throwing a complete seven innings for NSU.
Game Two: Pittsburgh State
After going down eight runs heading into the bottom half of the third inning, the Wolves bounced back with two runs score by Gale and Yancy who each singled to reach base. The Northern offense recorded seven hits in the loss, however were unable to string something together with six runners left on base. Gale and Yancy recorded their second two hit games of the day. Making her first appearance in the outfield,
Taylor Kontaxis notched her first career hit with a single to left field.
Rachel Albright and
Lauren Kunz each recorded a hit in the game as well. Albright is currently on a nine game hit streak as she has boosted her season average to .389.
Missy Elkins recorded the loss for the Wolves giving up seven earned runs in two innings on the mound.
Northern will be back in action tomorrow for the final day of the Missouri Western Tournament with match-ups against Emporia State and Central Missouri. First pitch will cross the plate at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. after games being pushed back due to cold weather.
NSU will then begin NSIC conference play Tuesday on the road at Moorhead.
