The Northwest Missouri State softball team came away on the losing end of a pitcher’s duel with Minnesota State Thursday afternoon in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Softball Championship Central Region Tournament.
The tournament is being hosted by Arkansas Tech University at the Chartwells Women’s Sports Complex in Russellville, Ark.
The loss moves the Bearcats to 37-15 this season, while the Mavericks improve to 45-15 overall.
There were only four combined hits in the contest.
Northwest was unable to scrape together a run after loading the bases in the seventh inning.
Key Statistics
– Kendle Schieber (21-7) took the hard luck loss after tossing six innings of one run ball, giving up only a pair of hits. The senior struck out four MSU batters, retiring the side in order four times.
– Catcher Jessica Rawie reached base twice, finishing 1-for-2 with a walk.
– Rebecca Maher singled up the middle to lead off the top of the seventh.
Key Innings
– Minnesota State pushed across the lone run of the game in the bottom of the second when Jess Meidl lifted a solo shot to left field.
– Second baseman Torri Blythe flashed the leather several times late in the contest, including an over-the-shoulder basket catch to close the fifth inning and a nice stab going to her right in the top of the sixth.
– Maher started a Northwest rally in the top of the seventh when she slapped an 0-2 single back up the middle. Alexis Kelsey laid down a near-perfect bunt in the next at bat, but it rolled just foul. After Kelsey was retired, Chantel Adams sent a lazy pop up into shallow left that was dropped by the Maverick shortstop. Maher and Adams each advanced a base on a passed ball, putting runners in scoring position with one out for Rawie. The catcher worked a walk to load the bases, but MSU pitcher Coley Reis worked out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts to end the threat.
Up Next
– The Bearcats will face off with the loser of top-seeded Arkansas Tech and eighth-seeded Upper Iowa in an elimination game Friday, May 6, tentatively scheduled for 3:30 p.m. A win in that contest would mean a date in the loser’s bracket championship Friday evening at 6 p.m.
— Northwest Athletics —