JOPLIN, Mo. – Missouri Western softball coach Jen Trotter earned her 500th career victory in dramatic fashion as her team split two games on the second day of the Teri-Mathis Zenner Memorial Tournament in Joplin.

After dropping the first game of the day, 7-4 to Sioux Falls, Missouri Western got Bagley Trotter win No. 500 in nine innings on a walk-off double by Paige Shifflett. Bagley Trotter’s milestone win wasn’t the only big moment of the day, Katie Klosterman also homered three times, including two solo shots in the Griffons’ loss to Sioux Falls.

Game 1: Sioux Falls 7, MWSU 4

Missouri Western couldn’t hold on to a 3-0 lead after five innings, allowing five Sioux Falls runs in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh.

Taylor Hamilton and Klosterman drove in the first three runs with Hamilton’s sacrifice fly in the first and an RBI double in the fifth. In between, Klosterman hit the first of her home runs in the fourth. Janie Smith allowed an RBI double and a grand slam in the sixth to put the Griffons down 5-3. Klosterman pulled Missouri Western within one in the sixth with her second home run, but Sioux Falls followed with a two-run homer in the seventh to go up 7-4. Missouri Western managed just one base runner in the bottom of the seventh, when Shifflett reached on a two-out error.

Klosterman finished 2-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Smith fell to 6-3 on the year. She gave up all seven runs on eight hits, pitching all seven innings.

Game 2: MWSU 4, McKendree 3 (9 innings)

Shifflett’s double in the bottom of the ninth gave Missouri Western the victory and Trotter her 500th win. The double scored Morgan Rathmann. Katie Klosterman hit her third solo home run of the day.

A box score for this game was not immediately available. Check gogriffons.com for updates.

Missouri Western is 10-6 on the season after the 1-1 day. The Griffons will open the home portion of their schedule with an MIAA doubleheader this weekend against Northeastern State on Friday, March 4.

— MWSU Athletics —