Baker's Heather Gruber could only keep the Lindenwood softball bats quiet for so long. The Lady Lions erupted for a total of 28 hits in two victories Saturday afternoon, and advanced to the HAAC semifinals by winning the best-of-three series 2-1.

Game two, which began Friday evening and was stopped during play due to inclement weather, resumed early Saturday morning. Much like game one, Baker struck first.

A pair of RBI singles gave the Wildcats an early 2-0 lead after the first, but slowly the Lady Lions began to chip away.

Employing a more patient approach than seen in the opening game, Lindenwood broke through in the second on a RBI sacrifice fly by Jessica Long. The score would remain 2-1 up until the fourth inning.

Danielle Merli singled to lead off Lindenwood's half of the inning, and scored on a base hit by Jodi Urhahn. Moments later, Long drove in another run with a RBI double that chased Gruber from the game.

Brittany Vollenweider would come on in relief, but gave up three consecutive hits, including a run scoring single to Samantha Van Pelt and a RBI double to Caitlin Diesen.

Sophie Berman added a two-run double in the fifth to push the lead to 7-2, and after Baker tacked one back on in the bottom half of the inning, Lindenwood scored three more in the sixth.

Diesen produced another run with a RBI single, and Sophia Galati smacked a two RBI base hit to center field that capped the scoring.

Rebecca Peddicord earned the win, pitching four and two-thirds while surrendering three runs. She struck out five and walked two.

Heidi Schertzer pitched the final two and one-third of an inning, striking out three.

Lindenwood posted a season-high 17 hits in the victory, and the 10 runs marked the fifth time this season the Lady Lions scored 10 or more runs.

Merli finished with three hits and three runs. Urhahn was a perfect 4-4 at the dish, scored twice, and drove in a run. Galati, Berman, Long, and Diesen each collected a pair of RBIs.

The momentum from game two carried over to the elimination game, as the Lady Lions won 9-1 in five innings.

Baker scored first once again, but the lead was temporary as the Lady Lions knocked Gruber around again. Trailing 1-0 in the third, Merli and Galati each drove in a run to give Lindenwood a 2-1 advantage.

In the fourth, Berman and Van Pelt both had RBI singles, and Katie Wessel stole home on a double-steal call to push the lead to 5-1. The Lady Lions scored four more in the fifth, and the game was run-shortened on a Diesen RBI base hit.

Schertzer got the win, allowing one run on four hits in four innings. She issued one walk and struck out two. Aubrey Moss pitched a scoreless frame in the top of the fifth.

Berman logged two hits and two RBIs, and six others drove in a run.

On Friday, Baker edged Lindenwood 2-1 in the opening game. Gruber stifled the Lady Lion offense, and key miscues defensively doomed the HAAC regular season champs.

Lindenwood starter Moss struggled to find a rhythm all night, and allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in five of seven innings.

She surrendered a leadoff triple to start the game, but was able to retire the next three batters in order to keep Baker off the scoreboard.

In the second though, a leadoff single to Wildcats' Katie Worley proved to be costly. The following batter laid down a bunt, but an errant throw by Urhahn ricocheted off Merli's glove at first and sailed into right field. Worley would come around to score and Baker would take an early 1-0 lead.

Moss would strand the runner at third once again, retiring the next three hitters. Right fielder Berman made a spectacular diving catch to end the Baker second.

Brooke Allen led off the top of the Wildcat third with her second triple of the game. She would score two batters later on a sac bunt to push the Baker lead to two. Later in the frame with runners at second and third, Moss fielded a bunt and flipped the ball to catcher Chelsea Landeck in time to beat the runner at home. The next batter would ground out to the shortstop to end the threat.

Merli tripled to right-center field to open the bottom half of the Lindenwood fourth, and appeared to give the Lady Lions the momentum they were desperately seeking. Galati lifted a fly ball to center field in the next at-bat, and Allen's throw at home just beat Merli to cap a momentum changing double-play.

Lindenwood finally got to Gruber in the fifth. With runners aboard and two outs, Diesen lined a sharp double past a diving first basemen, scoring Berman from second. However, Gruber quickly ended the rally, inducing Kimberly Ruth into an inning ending groundout.

Moss allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in the top of the seventh, but Schertzer came on in relief to induce a pair of groundouts and a pop out to strand the runner.

Urhahn singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but was caught stealing second, and Diesen ended the game striking out swinging with a runner on first.

Moss took the loss, allowing two runs, one earned on eight hits. She struck out three and walked one.

Lindenwood (32-19, 17-3) will host the winner of the Central Methodist and William Jewell series in another best-of-three series starting Tuesday at 5 p.m.