On Wednesday the No. 6 seed Missouri Western Griffons took on the defending NCAA softball champions Rogers State. The game would need 11 innings before the Hillcats used a walk-off hit to secure a first round MIAA Tournament win.
Luckily for the Griffons, the MIAA Tournament is a double elimination affair. After sitting through a two-and-a-half hour rain delay, the Griffons were able to rain on No.7-seeded Emporia State’s parade, winning 9-1.
The Griffons found early success in the second inning with the help of birthday girl Bubba Hoelscher, who scored the first run on an RBI single to bring in Taylor Jones.
Hoelscher would get her chance to score as the Griffons kept the hot bats rolling. Kalee Higdon laced a two-run single up the middle, scoring both Hoelscher and Chloe Armstrong to make the score 3-0.
An error at shortstop by Emporia State allowed Higdon to score soon after, pushing the lead to 4-0 in the second inning. But it was Abby Dickey who got the last laugh in the inning, driving an RBI single to second base to bring home Hawkins.
Western pitcher Sam Pederson had herself a day on the mound, only allowing one unearned on five hits with three strikeouts.
Another Griffon who had a successful afternoon was Kennedy Preston, who got her team hyped with a solo home run to right-center field, extending the lead to 6-3. Preston would later end the game via run-rule with a two-run single of her own, scoring Mackenzie DeVine and Kate Voisin.
Dickey and Preston led the Griffons with two hits apiece, both going 2-for-3 with four combined RBIs.
The Griffons await their next opponent in the MIAA Tournament, playing another elimination game against the loser of Central Oklahoma and Central Missouri on Friday at 4 p.m. at the Envista Softball Complex in Topeka, Kansas.
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