KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA announced on Thursday morning that Missouri Western senior Shi Qing Ong has been named MIAA Women’s Golfer of the Week. Ong receives the recognition after winning the Holiday Inn Express Classic this week and tying for first at the Warrior Invitational in Las Vegas last week.

At the Holiday Inn Express Classic, Ong topped a leaderboard that featured 82 golfers, winning by an entire five strokes. She shot a 148 (+4) on the St. Joseph Country Club course, including a two-under 70 in the first round. She led the entire field with seven birdies while also adding 19 pars.

One week before playing a familiar course in St. Joseph, Ong and Missouri Western began the spring season at the Warrior Invitational in Las Vegas. Ong tied teammate Anna Bech for first place at the event, leading the Griffons to finish first in the team standings. Ong and the Griffons battled wind gusts that reached as high as 50 miles per hour in the second round. In the first round in Las Vegas, Ong put together a one-under par performance with a score of 71.

With her two wins this spring, Ong now has 11 in her career at Missouri Western. She and the Griffons will look to continue their early-season momentum when the team heads to the Jennies Invitational in Warrensburg on March 25.

— MWSU Athletics —

TOPEKA, Kan. – Missouri Western Men’s Golf wrapped up play at the Washburn Invitational on Tuesday, finishing third in the team standings with a team score of 902 over three rounds. Patrick McCarthy tied for third in the field of 42, shooting 217 (+4) to lead the Griffons.

McCarthy entered Tuesday tied for the lead after shooting a tournament-best 69 (-2) in the first round. McCarthy followed that round with back-to-back scores of 74 (+3) in the final two rounds. McCarthy finished with the fourth-most birdies in the field with nine, while also scoring 34 pars.

Jett Simmons placed 14th with a 227 (+14) after shooting a 77 (+6) in the final round. Simmons’ best round came on Monday when he shot a 74 (+3) in the opening round. He also had the second-most birdies on the team with six.

Axel Johansson saved his best for last in Topeka. Johansson shot a 72 (+1) in the third round on Tuesday, the second-best single-round performance by a Griffon at the tournament.

Tom Buffington finished with a three-round score of 234, leading the team with 35 pars. Lucas Horseman finished just one stroke back of Buffington after his 76 (+5) on Tuesday.

Missouri Western Men’s Golf will compete in the Lindenwood Invitational on March 25-25 in its next event.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western’s Shi Qing Ong earned her second win in just as many tournaments this spring, as the senior took first place at the Holiday Inn Express Classic at the St. Joseph Country Club on Tuesday. This also gives Ong her 11th win at Missouri Western. As a team the Griffons placed third out of the 14 teams in the tournament with an overall score of 645.

Ong topped a leaderboard that featured 82 golfers, winning the event by an entire five strokes. Ong finished with an overall score of 148 (+4) on the familiar course of the St. Joseph Country Club. Her best round came on Monday when she shot two-under par with a 70. Ong led the field with seven birdies, three more than the next-best golfer. She also scored 19 pars and led the field by going even on par-five holes.

Anna Bech earned the third top-10 finish of her freshman season as she tied for seventh with a score of 158. Bech entered Tuesday tied for 12th and jumped five spots after shooting a 78 (+6) on Tuesday. She finished with 21 pars and was in the top-seven in both par-three and par-five scoring.

Chong Yong tied for 25th after shooting 167 over the two rounds with 17 pars. She followed her 83 (+11) score on Monday with an 84 (+12) in round two.

Jenna Kosmatka finished with a score of 172 while Sabrina Galfano shot 179.

Missouri Western Women’s Golf will travel to Warrensburg for the Jennies Invitational on March 25-26.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Forecasted flooding in the St. Joseph area has required significant changes to the 2019 Hy-Vee Classic schedule. Due to the threat of flooding at Bill McKinney Softball Complex at Heritage Park, games will only be played at the Spring Sports Complex on the Missouri Western campus.

The abbreviated schedule also brings changes to the participating teams and the dates and times of the event. The softball classic will now begin with two games on Thursday, March 21. Five games will be played on March 22 and March 23 with four games on March 24.

UPDATED HY-VEE CLASSIC SCHEDULE
March 21
2 p.m. – Missouri Western vs Northern State
4 p.m. – Northwest Missouri vs Northern State

March 22
10 a.m. – Central Oklahoma vs Augustana (S.D.)
12 p.m. – Missouri Western vs Augustana (S.D.)
2 p.m. – Northwest Missouri vs Winona State
4 p.m. – Missouri Southern vs Northern State
6 p.m. – Missouri Southern vs Minot State

March 23
10 a.m. – Missouri Southern vs Winona State
12 p.m. – Central Oklahoma vs Northern State
2 p.m. – Central Oklahoma vs Winona State
4 p.m. – Missouri Western vs Minot State
6 p.m. – Northwest Missouri vs Augustana (S.D.)

March 24
9 a.m. – Central Oklahoma vs Minot State
11 a.m. – Northwest Missouri vs Minot State
1 p.m. – Missouri Southern vs Augustana (S.D.)
3 p.m. – Missouri Western vs Winona State

ST. JOSEPH – For the first time this season, Griffon Baseball (10-9, 8-4) lost a conference series, falling 4-3 on Monday to Washburn (10-11, 5-7) to drop the series two games to one.

Playing as the home team after the series was moved from Topeka, Kansas, Washburn took advantage of its batting opportunity in the bottom of the ninth, getting a walk-off sacrifice fly with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

NOTABLES

• With runners on the corners and one out, Washburn won it with a sacrifice fly to center
• Missouri Western twice rallied to tie the game, scoring two in the top of the fourth to tie the game at two and getting one in the seventh to tie the game at three
• The Griffons left two in scoring position in the seventh and had runners on first and second in the top of the ninth
• MWSU left seven runners on base on the day; Washburn left nine
• It was the first of four MIAA series that went to the Griffons’ opponent
• The loss left MWSU tied for second with Central Missouri and Emporia State in the MIAA standings

LEADERS

• Casey Danley was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double. He also stole a base and was hit by a pitch
• Fahd Shakeel had a pair of hits
• Carson Dwyre didn’t allow a run in four innings of relief. He struck out four, walked one and allowed four hits

UP NEXT

• The Griffons hit the road for four-straight games
• Missouri Western will begin a three-game series at Lindenwood (11-14, 6-6) on Friday, March 22.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – One big inning lifted Griffon Softball (13-12, 2-4) to a win in its home debut, but a big inning by Central Missouri (10-8, 1-1) in game two left Missouri Western with a series split.

The Griffons jumped out to a big lead then held on for a game one win while it was UCM coming back on MWSU in game two.

GAME 1
Missouri Western 8, Central Missouri 6

• The Griffons scored seven runs in the third to stake an 8-1 lead
• MWSU batted 12 and prompted two UCM pitching changes in the third
• UCM didn’t go away, chipping away at the lead and leaving runners on second and third to end the game
• Cassidy Kelsheimer went 3-for-3 in the game with a double, an RBI and a run scored
• Taylor Hoelscher hit a two-run home run, doubled and was 2-for-4 at the plate
• Brea Blanton went 2-for-3
• Sydni Hawkins was 2-for-4 with two runs scored
• Kaili Hinds improved to 7-3 with the win on six-plus innings pitched
• Olivia Goodale pitched a scoreless seventh to earn her third save of the season

GAME 2
Central Missouri 6, Missouri Western 3

• The Griffons had the bases loaded with two out for Kelsheimer in the bottom of the seventh, but a ground out gave UCM the win
• MWSU led 3-0 after three innings, but UCM got two in the fourth and four in the fifth to take the 6-3 lead
• The Jennies got a two-run home run from Mackenzie McAtee after a pitching change in the fifth before Goodale got two of the next three batters to ground out
• All three of the Griffons’ runs came via home runs
• Kelsheimer homered and doubled in game two, going 2-for-4 at the plate
• Brea Blanton hit a two-run home run in the third and was 2-for-4 in the game

UP NEXT

• Missouri Western stays home to host Northwest Missouri (3-9, 0-4) in a re-scheduled doubleheader March 20 at 4 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

TOPEKA, Kan. – Missouri Western Men’s Golf began play in its first competition of the spring season at the Washburn Invitational on Monday. Patrick McCarthy is tied for the lead and the Griffons are third in the team standings after the first two rounds on the tournament.

Missouri Western sits in third after a combined team score of 301 in the first round and 302 in the second. The Griffons are just two strokes back of Concordia – St. Paul for second place. Washburn played an impressive first two rounds and holds a significant 14-stroke lead over the rest of the field.

McCarthy tied for first over the first two rounds after shooting a 69 (-2) in the first round and a 74 (+3) in the second. His first-round score of 69 also tied for the best single-round score of the day. McCarthy was consistent throughout the day, leading the field with 25 pars. He also shot an impressive two-under on par-five holes and totaled five birdies over the two rounds.

Also landing in the top-10 for the Griffons was Jett Simmons, whose combined score of 150 (+8) ties him for ninth place heading into Tuesday. Simmons finished with 23 pars, with his best round coming in the first when he shot a 74 (+2).

Tom Buffington was next on the individual leaderboards for Missouri Western. Buffington struggled early on Monday, shooting an 80 (+8) in the first round. However, Buffington bounced back for a score of 74 (+2) in the second round.

Lucas Horseman and Axel Johansson both shot a 159 to tie for 31st after the first two rounds.

Missouri Western Men’s Golf will continue play in Topeka on Tuesday morning.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western Women’s Golf completed the first round of the Holiday Inn Express Classic at the St. Joseph Country Club on Monday. Shi Qing Ong leads the field of 82 while Missouri Western is positioned third going into Tuesday. Despite being in third place, the Griffons sit just three strokes back from Minnesota State on the team leaderboard.

Ong shot a 70 (-2) to dominate the competition on Monday. With the next closest golfer five strokes back, Ong put together the best single round score of her season. Ong led the entire field with a total of four birdies, and also separated herself with effective play on par-4 holes, finishing two-under par on those holes. Her 13 total pars gave her the second most in the round.

Less than one week after tying Ong for first place at the Warrior Invitational in Las Vegas, Anna Bech shot an 80 (+8) to land tied for 12^th. Bech finished with the second-best round score on the team, earning nine pars and one birdie.

Chong Yong tied for 25^th after shooting an 83 (+11) as she scored 10 pars on the day.

Jenna Kosmatka and Sabrina Galfano finished with scores of 84 and 85 respectively to round out the first-round scoring for Missouri Western.

The Griffons will tee off at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday for the second round of the Holiday Inn Express Classic.