Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score | Season Stats
 
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Day two of the UTSA Softball Classic was full of ups and downs for the Missouri State softball Bears. After a 2-0 day on Friday, the Bears fell to Kansas 6-0 early Saturday before dropping the night cap, 4-3, to host UTSA in extra innings.
 
The Bears (4-4) racked up 14 hits on the day and held their own against the stiffer competition on the event's second full day. Senior Erika Velasquez Zimmer led MSU with three hits between the two games.
 
 
Kansas 6, Missouri State 0
 
Kansas (7-2) used the long ball to jump out to an early lead and rode the arm of Andie Formby to a 6-0 win over the Bears in Missouri State's first game of the day.
 
MSU's biggest threat came in the first inning when Erika Velasquez Zimmer legged out an infield single to start the game. One out later, senior Hailee Vigneaux poked a ball over the shortstop into shallow left field and stole second to put both Bears in scoring position. Cleanup hitter Kaitlin Beason then smoked the ball down the third-base line, but Kansas' Jessie Roane made a diving catch at third and tapped the bag before Velasquez Zimmer could get back, ending the frame.
 
Kansas jumped on the board in the second inning, using two homers to take an early 2-0 lead. Starting pitcher Holly Kelley responded with her first strikeout of the game but then surrendered another run two batters later when the Jayhawks' Brittany Jackson upped the score, 3-0, on a double to left-center field.
 
An inning later, KU took advantage of a two-out double and an intentional walk and made it a 4-0 ball game after Erin McGinley blooped an RBI single into shallow right center. Freshman Madison Hunsaker, who started the game in the designated player spot, came in to relieve Kelley in the circle and stopped the bleeding with a fly out to center field.
 
Kansas tacked on two more runs on one hit in the bottom of the fourth to get ahead, 6-0.
 
After the fourth, Hunsaker recorded a pair of three-up, three-down innings to keep the Bears in the game. She tallied four strikeouts over 3.1 innings of work.
 
 
UTSA 4, Missouri State 3 (9 innings)
 
Missouri State out-hit the host squad from Texas-San Antonio, 10-5, but fell 4-3 in nine innings after a two-out hit in the top of the seventh to tie the game.
UTSA scored twice in the bottom of the second when the Roadrunners loaded the bases with nobody out. An infield hit and two walks set up an infield grounder by Celeste Borza to plate the game's first run. No. 9 hitter Hannah Boring then plated another runner but was then thrown out at second by Darian Frost on the play.
 
MSU threatened in the third and fourth innings before finally posting a tally in the fifth.
 
A two-out walk to Velasquez Zimmer and a single by freshman Daphne Plummer put two MSU runners on in the third. But the home club responded by getting Hailee Vigneaux to line out to short to end the Bears' rally.
 
Kaitlin Beason started the MSU half of the fourth with a double to left, but was stranded there when UTSA starter Madison Nelson retired the next three Bears in order to end the threat.
 
Missouri State finally broke through in the fifth. Senior Allie Alvstad started things off with a single to right, and then Kyana Mason came on to pinch ran for her. Madison Jones moved Mason over to second on an infield hit before Plummer scored Mason with an RBI double to center. Two batters later, Beason walked on four pitches to load the bases with two outs, but Nelson was able to retire the side with her 2-1 lead intact.
 
Beason pitched around a hit and an error in the home half of the fifth, and her teammates nearly tied the game in the top of the sixth. Darian Frost led the inning off with a single and advanced to second on an outfield error by UTSA. Erin Griesbauer pinch ran for the MSU catcher and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Kelly Metter. Alvstad then slapped a single to right for what looked like the game-tying hit, but Griesbauer was called out on the throw to the plate on what would have been the tying run.
 
The Bears finally tied the game in the seventh after Velasquez Zimmer pounded a double to right and moved to third on a ground out by Steffany Dickerson. Beason walked to reach base for the fourth time and put runners on the corners with two outs for Madison Hunsaker. The freshman then lined a single to left center to plate Velasquez Zimmer – MSU's 10^th hit of the game – and knot the score, 2-2.
 
The clubs exchanged runs in the eighth, both on sacrifice flies. MSU took the lead on a fly ball from the bat of Alvstad and UTSA retaliating with a long fly by Hailey Garza to make it 3-3.
 
With the international tiebreaker in place in extra innings, it took Victoria Villarreal just three pitches in the bottom of the ninth to end it. The Roadrunners' first baseman singled on a 1-1 pitch to plate winning run from second and give UTSA the win.
 
The Bears were just 3-of-22 with runners in scoring position on the evening in a heart-breaking loss.
 
Beason (0-2) went the distance in the circle, allowing just five hits in eight-plus innings of work while striking out four and walking four. She also led three Bears with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and a double. Plummer and Alvstad also collected two hits apiece for MSU, which out-hit the home side by a 10-5 margin but stranded 13 runners.
 
 
Coming Up Next
The Bears close out the UTSA Softball Classic on Sunday morning with a 10 a.m. rematch against the Kansas Jayhawks.
 
For all the latest information on the Missouri State softball team, visit MissouriStateBears.com or follow @MSUSoftball on Twitter.