The Truman softball team dropped two games on Sunday at the MIAA/NSIC Crossover, falling 12-4 in five innings to Winona (Minn.) State in the opener before coming up on the short end of a 1-0 pitchers' duel in the finale against Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.).
Kelsey Bollman (Maquoketa, Iowa, Maquoketa) and Kristin Grossman (Glen Ellyn, Ill., Glenbard South) registered two hits apiece in the opener against WSU, but after the Bulldogs took an early 2-0 lead, the Warriors (4-0) responded with four in the first and three more in the second to take a 7-2 lead.
Truman would get two back in the top of the fifth before WSU capitalized on a Bulldog miscue to score five unearned runs in the home-half, ending the game by run-rule. Kindra Henze (Palmyra, Mo., Palmyra) and Kirsten Krause (St. Louis, Mo., Parkway North) each pitched 2.1 innings, combining to strike out seven.
Then, in the finale, five Bulldogs held CSP (5-5) to just two hits, but a first-inning run would prove to be the difference in a 1-0 Golden Bear victory.
Hannah Washburn (Keokuk, Iowa, Keokuk) struck out eight CSP hitters and sat down the final 16 batters, but a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first was the difference maker. Grossman added her third hit of the day as one of five Bulldogs to register base-knocks, as Truman stranded eight runners.
The Bulldogs, now 7-3 overall on the season, return to action next weekend at the MSSU Zenner-Mathis Invitational, starting on Friday, March 2 at 2:00 pm against Sioux Falls (S.D.).
Courtesy Truman State University