Missouri Western softball coach Jen Bagley announces the signing of another pitcher for next season.

Alex VanHove of Milo, Iowa will join Sophie Gentry from St. Joseph, Mo., junior college pitcher Shyanne Saladino from Davenport, Iowa as well as Riley Wilson, Rebekah Mueller, Shelbie Atwell, Paige Shifflett and Emilie Laliberte on next years squad as those players signed in November 2013.

VanHove is a 5-10 pitcher from Milo, Iowa played her high school softball at Southeast Warren High School. While at Southeast Warren, VanHove was a four year letter winner in softball, volleyball and dance. She was a 2nd Team All-Conference pitcher while in high school. She is the daughter of Barb and Dale and plans on majoring in nursing.

“Emily is a talent that we are excited to add to our pitching depth,” stated Coach Bagley. “She has a tremendous upside and we are going to be lucky benefactors of her development.”

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western softball team captured its first even MIAA Tournament championship Saturday in Overland Park as they defeated Northeastern State, 12-0.  The Griffons scored seven, 7th inning runs on their way to the victory. The win was Jackie Bishop’s 25th of the season which ties her career high for victories in a season.

The Griffons are 38-16 on the season and will play next weekend in the NCAA Central Regional which will be announced on Monday, May 5 at 9:00 am. There will be a watch party in the KCP&L Theater Room in the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex.

Bishop threw a one-hitter while striking out 10 and walking just one. The Griffons had 12 hits in the contest with two coming from Kat Steponovich, Michelle Stevenson and Morgan Rathmann.

Missouri Western opened up the scoring in the second inning when Steponovich led off with a single down the right field line and advanced to second on single by Katie Klosterman to second base. Stevenson then hit a single scoring Steponovich and then Klosterman scored on an RBI groundout by Rathmann giving the Griffons the 2-0 lead.

The score stayed that way until the 5th inning when Rathmann blasted a two run homer over left center giving the Griffons the 4-0 lead. Later in the inning Bre Fleschner scored on a Gillaspy groundout making the lead 5-0 after five.

In the 7th the Griffons exploded for seven runs which was capped by back-to-back pinch hit home runs by Kailey Green and Sydney McCune. Sydney Washington and Brooke Schaben also had RBI hits in the innings.

Bishop struck out the final batter of the game giving the Griffons their first tournament title in history.

The RiverHawks end their season with a 29-30 overall record. Kayce Wooldridge went all six innings giving up eight hits and four earned runs. She falls to 17-14 on the season. Saharra Henson had the lone hit for the RiverHawks.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western baseball team got a walk off single by senior outfielder David Chew advancing them to the final four of the MIAA Tournament next weekend in Springfield, Mo. Chew singled in Cody Childs in the bottom of the 10th giving the Griffons the 5-4 victory over Southwest Baptist. With the victory the Griffons improve to 30-18 on the season.

Missouri Western jumped on top early, taking a 1-0 lead after the first inning of play. Cody Childs homered down the left field line helping the Griffons strike first. The Bearcats responded in the second, plating two runs taking a 2-1 lead. Ross Wolfe and Chance Wolfe led the inning off with back-to-back singles. After a Missouri Western error put the runners on second and third, Zach Pirrello doubled to right field to put SBU on top. The Bearcats added to their lead in the third when Jake Vore scored on a Ross Wolfe fielder’s choice to extend the lead to 3-1.

The Griffons responded right back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs tying the game at 3-3. The Griffons got RBI hits from Chew and Will Carter in the inning which scored Childs and Chew.

Both the Bearcats and the Griffons settled down, with no runs being scored over the next three innings. The Bearcats broke the tie in the top of the seventh when Tyler Hampton singled home Bo Helsel to give SBU a 4-3 lead. Missouri Western responded right back, knotting the game up at 4-4 on an RBI double by Trevor LaHonta scoring Jake Schrader.

The game would go to extra innings and in the bottom of the 10th, Childs singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch setting him up to score on the Chew single giving the Griffons the victory.

The Griffons had 12 hits with Childs going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and Chew going 3-for-5 with one run scored and two RBI. Mason Queen picked up the victory going three innings in relief giving up just one hit with two strikeouts. He improved to 4-4 with the victory.

The Griffons will take on the winner of the University of Central Missouri and Northeastern State series on Thursday, May 8 in Springfield, Mo. First pitch is scheduled for 11 am.

Southwest Baptist had 15 hits with Pirrello going 3-for-5. Sam Vergara got the loss going three innings giving up four hits and one earned run. He falls to 5-2 on the season.

The Bearcats concluded the most successful season in school history, coming away with the most wins and MIAA wins ever. SBU also advanced to their first MIAA Tournament since the 1999. SBU finished the season with a 29-24 record while finishing 24-15 in the MIAA.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Jackie Bishop ended a dominate performance by striking out her career best 17th batter in the top of the 7th inning with the tying run on second picking up the 3-1 victory and advancing to the MIAA Softball Tournament Championship. Missouri Western advances to the MIAA Tournament Championship for the first time since 2012 and they’re now 37-16 on the season.

In game that started out as a pitcher’s duel Missouri Western escaped with a 3-1 victory over Northeastern State. The win puts MWSU in Saturday’s championship game and send Northeastern State to tonight’s game against top seed Emporia State.

After walking the first batter of the game, Bishop went on to strikeout 10 straight RiverHawks before a pop up my Northeastern State. The only hit either pitcher gave through six innings was in the first when Tiffany Gillaspy got a single extending her hitting streak to 21 games.

After the RiverHawks got a two out double by Lauren Lanary and scored on a single by Madison Reed giving them a 1-0 lead in the top of the 6th. In the bottom of the 6th the Griffons pieced together sive hits and took advantage of one NSU error. Morgan Rathmann homered starting the scoring in the sixth and Bre Fleschner and Sydney Washington scored runs to put the Griffons ahead.

In the circle Bishop went seven innings allowing four hits and only one earned run while striking out 17 on the afternoon. She improves to 24-8 on the season. Kayce Wooldridge went six innings for NSU striking out three and allowing just six hits and one earned run.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western baseball team picked up the second game of its three-game opening round tournament match against Southwest Baptist to send it to the final day.

The Griffons defeated the Bearcats 10-5.

Just like in game one, the Griffons jumped on the board early with a four-run second inning.

David Chew started it off with a single to center field. After Will Carter grounded out to move Chew to second, the scoring began.

Mitch Thorman sent a double to left field to score Chew. Jake Schrader then doubled to left center to mark the score 2-0. Hunter Weiss singled to left field and drove in Schrader. After that, Ryan Degner singled to the same spot to score Weiss.

After a scoreless third inning, the Griffons added two runs in each the fourth and fifth innings.

Weiss’ double to left field was followed by Degner’s home run and mark the score 6-0. In the fifth inning, Southwest Baptist added five runs in the top of the fifth to pull within a run.

Christian Binger belted a homer over the left-field fence for the 3-run long ball. That happened after Ross Wolfe’s single to shortstop, which scored Bo Helsel for the Bearcats’ first run of the game. Chance Wolfe hit a double and scored the second run off of Drew Miller’s single up the middle.

In the bottom of the fifth, Schrader tripled to score Carter and advanced home after a throwing error by Southwest. That made the score 8-5.
A run each was added in the sixth and eighth by the Griffons to make it 10-5. Missouri Western had 16 hits with no errors and the Bearcats had nine hits with two errors.

Jake Jones picked up his sixth win after pitching five innings. Josh Lansangan got the save. Tim Collins fell to 5-5 for the Bearcats.

Degner finished 4-for-4 at the No. 1 hole with three RBI. Schrader went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Weiss went 3-for-4 and had an RBI.

The two teams play the third game Saturday at 1 p.m. The winner of that match advances to Springfield, Mo. for the semi-finals played at Hammons Field.

— MWSU Sports Information —