JOPLIN, Mo. - University of Sioux Falls Softball dropped a pair of close games to close out their trip to the Teri Mathis Zenner Memorial Tournament on Sunday. The Cougars (3-6) fell 2-0 to the tournament host Missouri Southern in the first leg of their doubleheader. In their tournament finale, USF out-hit Northeastern State but fell, 5-4.
Missouri Southern State 2, Sioux Falls 0
Locked in a scoreless tie through three innings, a solo homerun proved to be the game-winner as USF Softball dropped a 2-0 decision at tournament host Missouri Southern on Sunday morning. Despite scattering seven hits over six innings of work, Breanna Black was saddled with the loss. Sydney Nieveen logged two of the Cougars' five hits, but they stranded five runners on base in the shutout.
Nieveen recorded her first of two hits with one out in the top of the first, but the Cougars couldn't record a run in their first trip to the plate. In Missouri Southern's answer, they notched two hits, but Jasmine Ragusi caught a MSSU runner stealing to stop their scoring threat.
Emily Cheloha singled after Emily Miller was hit by a pitch to lead off the second. USF's best scoring chance to that point was halted by a double play groundout. Black responded in the bottom half, throwing 1-2-3 innings in the second and third frames.
In the top of the fourth, Ashley Meyer singled and was replaced at first after Miller's fielder's choice. Lindsey Mossman singled with a bunt to give the Cougars two runners with two outs, but a pop out ended the inning.
Sioux Falls looked to escape and danger in the bottom of the fourth when Black induced a double play after a leadoff single. However, the next batter hit a homerun to left centerfield, breaking the scoreless tie.
The Cougars were held hitless in the fifth inning, but responded with a sutout bottom half to keep the margin at 1-0. Looking to tie the game, Nieveen singled to lead off the sixth, but the Cougars again stranded a runner.
A pair of hits in the bottom half of the inning extended the Lions' lead to 2-0 with one more chance at the plate for USF. Missouri Southern's pitching change caught the Cougars off guard as they went down in order to end the game, 2-0.
Northeastern State 5, Sioux Falls 4
With four runs in the final inning, Sioux Falls nearly erased a five-run deficit, but the Cougars fell short, 5-4, to Northeastern State. Emily Hove led the Cougars with two of her team's six hits.
The game was scoreless through three innings as the starting pitchers allowed just two combined hits through the first three frames. USF starter was relieved by Courtney Mathews with one out in the third and Mathews escaped two inherited runners to keep the game scoreless through three innings.
USF stranded one of their seven runners in the fourth inning, which allowed Northeastern to take the lead in the bottom half. After an RBI double broke the scoreless tie, a three-run homerun two batters later gave NSU a 4-0 lead
In the top of the fifth inning, Lindsey Mossman was hit by a pitch and Emily Cheloha singled to give USF two baserunners with no one out.The Cougars failed to capitalize on their early traffic, stranding both runners. Northeastern padded their lead with an RBI double, extending their advantage to 5-0
Sydney Nieveen singled to lead off the top of the sixth inning, but a pair of fielder's choices and a groundout stopped any chance to put a dent in their five-run deficit. Kerrigan Hoshaw replaced Mathews in the circle in the sixth inning and avoided any damage by stranding a pair of NSU runners
In the seventh inning, the Cougars nearly completed the comeback, racking up four runs on four hits in their final at-bat. Following a Mossman walk, Choloha singled before being replaced by Black on a fielder's choice. Megan Peterson drove in the Cougars' first run with a single and Hove loaded the bases on a base hit
Nieveen drove in the second run, getting hit by a pitch to score Black. Following a strikeout, Hoshaw singled in two runs to pull the Cougars within one run of the Riverhawks. With the tying run on second, USF's rally was cut short on a game-ending groundout to third base.
Sioux Falls now turns their focus to the Clermont, Florida Games where they will play 10 games in six days as part of their spring break trip on March 11-16.
