The Lindenwood softball team (28-6, 15-3 GLVC) bounced back on Sunday, earning a league doubleheader sweep at Maryville (13-16, 8-8 GLVC) in St. Louis. After suffering their first two-game losing stretch of the spring, the Lions put themselves back in the win column with wins of 5-0 and 4-1.
 
Amanda Weyh tossed her 14th complete game of the season, striking out nine in the game-one shutout, before Marina Esparza surrendered just two hits and one run over seven innings in the night cap. The duo has combined for a 1.06 ERA over 212 innings through the team's first 34 games.
 
GAME ONE OVERVIEW
Freshman Mya Bethany put the Lions on the board early in game one, singling home Morgan Gersch in the second inning. Lindenwood added two more in the third, as Taylor Bushman circled the bases on a double from Weyh before Gersch plated Whitney Kinser on a sacrifice fly to right field.
 
Weyh helped herself once again at the dish in the fifth, forcing Bushman home with a groundout. Whitney Wendel capped the Lions scoring immediately after with a double to deep center field that gave Kinser her second run of the contest.
 
Weyh scattered four hits and walked one over seven frames, striking out at least nine opponents for the eighth time this spring.
 
GAME ONE LEADERS
Weyh (CG SHO, 9 K, 1-for-4, 2 RBI, 2B)
Kinser (2-for-4, 2 R)
Gersch (1-for-1, 2B, RBI, R, BB)
Wendel (1-for-3, 2B, RBI)
 
GAME TWO OVERVIEW
Esparza shut down the first six Saints' hitters, allowing Lindenwood the opportunity to strike first once again in the third inning. Kinser doubled home Riley Leutkenhaus, who walked earlier in the frame, before Weyh followed up with a two-bagger of her own to plate the sophomore and make the score 2-0.
 
Maryville cut the deficit in half in its half of the third, however, the Lions added a pair more runs in the fifth to give Esparza a cushion inside the circle. It was the combination of Kinser-Luetkenhaus again, with the latter swiping home following Kinser's steal of second. The Powell, Mo., product came around to score on Weyh's at-bat after Maryville's Macy Miller committed an error.
 
Esparza was lights out in the win, facing one over the minimum. The graduate student failed to issue a single walk for the first time since March 19, while allowing two hits and punching out four Saints.
 
GAME TWO LEADERS
Kinser (2-for-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, SB)
Weyh (1-for-4, 2B, RBI)
Luetkenhaus (1-for-2, 2 R, BB)
Esparza (CG, 4 K)
 
NOTABLE
-Lindenwood sits in third place in GLVC action with a 15-3 record, one game ahead of Drury. Southern Indiana (16-0) and UIndy (14-2) currently lead the league contingent.
- Following her seventh shutout of the spring, Weyh lowered her GLVC-only ERA to 0.69, which ranks second among GLVC pitchers.
- With a two-hit performance in the finale on Sunday, Kinser now ranks third on the team with eight multi-knock games this season.
 
UP NEXT
Lindenwood has just one doubleheader next weekend, as it visits Lewis on Saturday for a league twin bill. First pitch in Romeoville is scheduled for 12 p.m.
 
The Lions and Flyers have split the last four contests, with the Flyers snagging a GLVC tournament win last May in East Peoria, Ill.