The Missouri Western softball team scored 26 runs and had 21 hits run ruling Northwest Missouri State and Central Oklahoma on the first day of the MIAA Touranament.

Tiffany Gillaspy hit a three run walk-off homer against Northwest in a 16-7 victory while Sydney Washington blasted a walk-off three run homer in the 6th in a 10-1 victory over Central Oklahoma.

The Griffons will take on Northeastern State at 3:00 pm in the winners bracket and it’ll air live on ESPN 1550 and here on StJosephpost.com. The winner will advance to the MIAA Tournament Championship while the loser has to play again at 5:00 pm.

Game 1
MWSU 16
NWMSU 7 (6 innings)

Missouri Western racked up 14 hits as they earned a first round victory over Northwest Missouri. Northwest Missouri also added 11 hits in a game that saw plenty of offense.

For The Griffons Gillaspy homered going three for five and driving in five runs. Bre Fleshner also homered and scored three runs while Michelle Stevenson also added three runs batted in. Jackie Bishop came on to get the win pitching three innings and striking out two. She improved to 22-8 in the victory.

Game 2
MWSU 10
UCO 1 (6 innings)

Missouri Western put up four first inning runs and did not look back as they advanced to winners bracket semi-final. MWSU added six runs in the sixth inning icing the game.

Sydney Washington was one for three with three runs driven in, a home run and two runs scored. Kat Steponovich added two RBI and Katie Klosterman had two runs scored going two for three on the night. Emily Ditmore had the lone UCO run driven in by Hannah Justus. Bishop pitched six strong innings allowing just five hits and striking out eight. She improves to 23-8 with the victory. Bishop broke her single season record for strikeouts with 249 this season. Her old record was 243 which was set in 2012.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Mother nature definitely made it feel like playoff baseball as game time conditions felt like mid October as opposed to the first day of May as Missouri Western was defeated by Southwest Baptist 6-4 in game one of the MIAA Baseball Championship at the Spring Sports Complex.

SBU drew first blood in the opening frame as power hitting infielder Spencer Blackshear hit his 15th home run of the season to left center field off Grant Woods giving the Bearcats a 1-0 lead.  The Griffs came right back with a three run second.  With one out, Will Carter doubled, Hunter Weiss reached on an error and Mitch Thorman singled scoring Carter.  One batter later, Cody Childs doubled scoring Weiss, with Trevor LaHonta driving in the third run via sacrifice fly.

One inning later, David Chew tripled with one out and Jake Schrader’s sacrifice fly made it 4-1.

Grant Woods seemed to be cruising along until the 6th inning when with one out, three straight SBU hits culminating with a Chance Wolfe RBI ground out brought the Bearcats to within one at 4-3.

Woods was lifted six innings allowing three earned runs and striking out four.

Late inning stopper Mason Queen came on for the Griffons in the top of the seventh inning but the SBU bats stayed hot.  With runners at second and third and two out, the Griffs elected to walk Spencer Blackshear to load the bases.  Queen hit the next batter Jake Vore to tie the game, then Bo Helsel’s two out, two RBI single gave SBU their first lead of the game.

The Griffs threatened in the ninth as the first two batters reached, but SBU pitcher Cory Borsh, who was masterful all evening retired the last three Griffons for the final tally.

Borsh improves to 6-2 on the year in pitching a complete game allowing two earned runs and striking out two.

Queen took the loss for the Griffs falling to 3-4 allowing three runs in three innings.

SBU takes a 1-0 lead in the best of three game series with game two set for Friday, May 2nd at 6 PM at the Spring Sports Complex.  Admission is $5.00 for adults with children 6 & under and MWSU students being admitted free.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western softball team brought home a number of accolades following its 34-16 season including MIAA Pitcher of the Year and two First Team All-MIAA selections. Seven other Griffons were selected to the Honorable Mention squad.

Senior pitcher Jackie Bishop earned MIAA Pitcher of the Year for the second time in her career as well as being named first team for the fourth time in her outstanding career. Junior first baseman Tiffany Gillaspy was a first team selection for the first time in her career.

Bishop is completing one of the most successful playing careers in Missouri Western softball history. The Kirksville, Mo., natvie is a four-time First Team All-MIAA selection, two time MIAA Pitcher of the Year (2012-2014), three-time First Team All-Region recipient and an All-American selection in 2012. Bishop was also the MIAA Freshman of the Year in 2011. Bishop holds MWSU softball career records for wins (91), strikeouts (925), innings pitched (785.1), appearances (135) complete games (99) and shutouts (27). Additionally the two-time MIAA Pitcher of the Year holds MWSU single-season records for strikeouts (243) and shutouts (10) and is an integral member of a senior class that has gone 154-60 in its time dawning the Black and Gold. This season, the right-handed pitcher finished the regular season with a 21-8 overall record with a 1.09 ERA. She leads the MIAA with 239 strikeouts which is just five away from breaking her single season mark of 243 set in 2012. She has pitched 25 complete games with 10 shutouts and two saves this season. She has giving up just four hits per games while striking out eight per game. She has thrown three no-hitters this season and four in her career. She has been named the MIAA AstroTurf Pitcher of the Week four times this season and 11 times in her career.

Gillaspy topped off an impressive junior campaign being named to the first team for the first time in her career. Gillaspy a two-time MIAA AstroTurf Hitter of the Week is currently on an 18 game hitting streak and has hit safely in 40 of the Griffons 50 games. She currently leads the Griffons and is in the top-10 in the MIAA in batting average (.393), hits (64), doubles (12), home runs (11), RBI (49), total baseas (109) and slugging percentage (.669). Gillaspy was an honorable mention All-MIAA selection a season ago. She has had double digit hits in 18 games including going 4-for-4 against Central Missouri on March 14. She has also had five RBI in a game twice and hit two home runs and a double against Lincoln on April 12.

Players that were named to the honoralbe mention squad were, senior catcher Kat Steponovich, sophomore pitcher Janie Smith, senior shortstop Taylor Anding, freshman third baseman Katie Klosterman, freshman outfielder Sydney Washington, freshman outfield Morgan Rathmann and junior outfield Bre Fleschner.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The MIAA announced its academic award winners for the sport of golf on Thursday morning. Eight (four women, four men) Missouri Western golfers were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll.

The MIAA Academic Honor Roll is for any sophomore, junior, and senior with at least a 3.00 cumulative GPA. To achieve honor roll status, a student-athlete must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 and have at least two terms of attendance at the certifying member institution, excluding summer terms. The golfers that earned the honor are Tyler Gast, Derek Hawkins, James O’Brien, Scott Scheldon, Amber Chivington, Anna Kloeppel, Shelby Stone and Callie Wilson.

Newcomers and MIAA Academic Excellence Awards will be given out following the end of the 2013-14 school year.

— MWSU Sports Information —

With its 3-1 record this past week, the Missouri Western softball team held on to the No. 6 spot in the most recent NCAA Central Region Rankings.

The NCAA Central Region consists of teams from the the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and the Great American Conference (GAC).

The top eight teams in each region will advance to the NCAA Tournament, with the top two seeds in each region hosting postseason games.

The NCAA DII Softball Selection Show is set to air via webcast on NCAA.com on Monday, at 9 a.m. Automatic bids will be awarded to the three conference tournament winners with the final five spots awarded on an at-large basis.

MWSU is joined in the poll by fellow MIAA members Emporia State, Central Oklahoma and Fort Hays State, which ranked second, fifth and ninth in the regional rankings, respectively.

The Griffons travel to Overland Park, Kan., to take part in the MIAA Tournament beginning Thursday, at 6 p.m. MWSU’s first round opponent will be Northwest Missouri State.

NCAA Central Region Rankings

Team                        Overall Record    In-Region Record
1. Winona State (NSIC)    38-6    28-6
2. Emporia State (MIAA)    43-10    42-10
3. Minnesota State (NSIC)    41-9    36-7
4. Augustana (NSIC)    40-11    34-11
5. Central Oklahoma (MIAA)    39-13    39-13
6. Missouri Western State (MIAA)    34-16    34-16
7. Southeastern Oklahoma (GAC)    35-15    35-15
8. Arkansas Tech (GAC)    31-25    31-25
9. Fort Hays State (MIAA)    28-18    26-17
10. Southern Arkansas (GAC)    31-23    28-21

— MWSU Sports Information —