FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Behind Natalie Rose’s one-hitter, the Missouri State softball team snapped a four-game losing streak with 2-1 victory over Arkansas Wednesday evening at Bogle Park. Rose struck-out six and allowed just a single unearned run to post her ninth victory of the season.
The Bears’ junior right-hander started the game with five perfect innings, keeping the Razorbacks off the bases until Amanda Geile’s lead-off double in the sixth. Rose wrapped up the game in an efficient 68 pitches, throwing 53 strikes to give the Bears their second straight road win in the series with Arkansas.
Missouri State broke up a scoreless game with four straight singles in the top of the fifth to grab a 2-0 lead. With one out, Heather Duckworth singled up the middle off Chelsea Cohen to get things going, and Madison Hargrove followed with a base hit to center to extend her hit streak to six games. Next, Lauren Eisenreich put MSU on the board with a hard single to left to drive in Duckworth, and pinch hitter Savannah Wiggins plated the Bears second tally with a soft liner that settled in front of Becca Carden in center.
Rose, meanwhile, had few difficulties with the UA lineup, cruising into the sixth with four consecutive strikeouts. But Geile lofted Rose’s 0-2 pitch deep into the gap in left-center just beyond the reach of centerfielder Tyler Porter to give the Razorbacks their one and only hit of the night.
Pinch runner Tori Mort would come around to score on a Courtney Breault sacrifice fly for UA’s only run of the game after a Missouri State error prolonged the inning.
But Rose would close out the game in style by retiring five batters in-a-row, including the last two via strikeout.
Eisenreich and Hargrove paced the MSU offense with two hits apiece, while Duckworth went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Up next, Missouri State (14-15) returns to Killian Stadium to open a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series with Creighton. The Bears and Bluejays will play a noon doubleheader Saturday (April 9), then square off in a single contest Sunday at noon.
-MSU-
