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The top of the Truman softball lineup coupled with timely pitching performances to help the Bulldogs take a Tuesday afternoon nonconference doubleheader with Missouri-St. Louis by scores of 4-3 and 3-1.

In game one, Meredith Kusky singled home Mary Manley in the bottom of the second to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 advantage, but UMSL would come back with a pair in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead.

But the Bulldogs rallied in the sixth, putting runners on first and second in front of Kelsey Bollman with two out. Bollman, the squad’s leading hitter at .427 on the season, came through, smashing a double off the left center field wall, plating pinch-runner Corey Niblett and advancing Alex Weber to third.

With the ’Dogs down, 3-2, junior Katie Pitts then stepped up and put a single into left center, allowing both Weber and Bollman to score and give Truman a 4-3 edge.

After giving up a leadoff walk in the seventh, junior Ashley Rotkvich sat down the next three hitters to finish her complete game and improve her record on the season to 5-4. Bollman and Pitts combined for five hits atop the Truman lineup.

Then, in game two, the Bulldogs capitalized on single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to pick up a 3-1 nightcap win.

 Bridget Schade delivered an RBI single in the fourth in front of solo shots by Rotkvich and Bollman in the next two innings in defense of Elizabeth Grover and Beth Schnurbusch’s work in the circle.

Grover started and pitched 4.1 innings, allowing just one unearned run, before Schnurbusch left a pair of inherited runners in the fifth before silencing the Triton bats in the sixth and seventh to pick up the win.

She ran her record to 7-5 on the season.

Bollman added two more hits in the game, while Christine Ulses went 2-for-2 behind her in the No. 3 spot in the lineup.

The Bulldogs (18-14) return to action this weekend with a pair of MIAA doubleheaders, starting on Saturday at noon against Emporia State.

Courtesy Truman State University