Hannah Johnson had a solid day at the plate for the Lindenwood softball team on Monday afternoon in Maryville, Mo., but Northwest Missouri's offense proved to be too much as the Bearcats swept the Lady Lions.
Austine Pauley hit her team-leading sixth homer of the season, marking the ninth extra-base by the freshman in the past 10 games. Northwest Missouri shut down the Lindenwood offense in game one, 5-0, before piling on the runs in the nightcap to win, 12-4.
Johnson collected three hits on the day, including a double and a home run. The long ball puts the freshman third on the team with three homers, and tied for the team lead with five doubles.
Adele Linderman and Lexi This each had a pair of hits in the 12-4 loss, as
Morgan Brown,
Bethany Fountain, and
Maria Tippit had one hit in the 5-0 defeat.
Stormee Galka suffered the loss in game one, dropping her season record to 13-10. The freshman struck out two and walked none, the eighth time this season in which the southpaw has thrown at least five innings without issuing a free pass.
Kimberly Fozzard took the hit in game two, allowing nine runs in five innings of work.
Game One
Johnson doubled with two outs in the first inning, but the Lindenwood offense failed to rally around it. In their half of the second inning, the Bearcats used a pair of two-out knocks to take the 1-0 lead.
The Lady Lions threatened in the fourth when Brown and Fountain singled with one out, but Pauley flew out ahead of a
Faith Koffron foul out to end it. Once again, Northwest Missouri capitalized and tallied another run in the bottom of the fourth for the 2-0 advantage.
The Bearcats added another two runs in the fifth inning and one in the sixth, but Northwest pitcher Taylor Blackford retired 11 of the final 12 Lindenwood hitters to end the game 5-0. Tippit had a pinch-hit single with outs in the top of the seventh inning.
Game Two
The Lady Lions took the early advantage in the nightcap when Johnson drilled a homer to left field in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. However, the Bearcats would get the run back in their half of the inning, on a stolen base and a pair of hits.
Northwest Missouri and Lindenwood traded two-run homers in the second and third innings. After the Bearcats took a 3-1 lead, Pauley responded with her third homer in the past week to knot the game again.
After that, Northwest Missouri's bats caught fire for the rest of the game. Fozzard surrendered a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning before the Bearcats added a run in each of the next two frames. Johnson would single home
Maddie Bohr in the fourth, but the deficit was 8-4 after five innings.
After another run made it 9-4 in the sixth, Northwest Missouri walked it off with its second grand slam of the game to short game Lindenwood, 12-4.
The sweep drops Lindenwood to 20-23 on the season and 8-14 in the MIAA. The Lady Lions will travel to Bolivar, Mo. on Friday afternoon for a twin bill with Southwest Baptist before ending the regular season in Warrensburg, Mo. against Central Missouri.
