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SPRINGFIELD – Oklahoma State (29-12) pounded out three hits in each of the first three innings to take the early lead and hold off late scoring chances by Missouri State (23-15) in a 3-0 win by the Cowgirls here Wednesday.
 
OSU starter Emmie Robertson (10-4) went the distance, striking out seven, walking one and allowing nine Missouri State hits.
 
Daphne Plummer went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles for Missouri State, which stranded 10 runners. It was Plummer's second four-hit game in three tries.
 
Oklahoma State put pressure on the Bears early and often. A 6-4-3 double play got starter Erin Griesbauer (7-3) and the Bears out of trouble in the top of the first, but the Cowgirls broke through in the second with an RBI single from leadoff hitter Vanessa Shippy. Oklahoma State added another tally in the third with a two-out double by Michaela Richbourg.
 
Steffany Dickerson was called on in relief and finished off the OSU third-inning initiative with a strikeout. She then retired the next six Cowgirls in a row to keep it a 2-0 game into the sixth.
 
"Our defense wasn't perfect today, but we had a great defensive effort," said MSU head coach Holly Hesse. "We turned two really big double plays. (Erika Velasquez Zimmer) threw a runner out at the plate, and Hailee Vigneaux gunned down a runner trying to take second.  Steff (Dickerson) came in and threw a great game, kept them off balance and did a good job keeping us in the game."
 
Dickerson surrendered her first hit of the contest on a leadoff single by Chelsea Alexander in the sixth, but Vigneaux gunned her down from left field trying to stretch it into a double. The next OSU hitter Richbourg was hit by a pitch and came around to score later in the inning after a pair of wild pitches and an RBI single by pinch hitter Elise LeBeouf to make it 3-0.
 
Dickerson eventually pitched out of trouble with a strikeout and a popup before giving way to teammate Madison Hunsaker in the seventh. She finished with four strikeouts and four hits allowed in 3.2 innings of relief. Hunsaker induced two popups to the two batters she faced in the final inning.
 
After stranding two runners in the first and third innings, MSU loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with one out, only to come up empty with Robertson getting a key strikeout and groundout to end the threat.
 
The Bears also made some noise in the bottom of the seventh with two outs. Velasquez Zimmer and Plummer came up with back-to-back singles to bring up MSU's top home run threat, Darian Frost who represented the tying run. However, Robertson got the MSU catcher to bounce back to the circle for a game-ending groundout.
The game was also MSU's annual Orange Game celebration of senior Allie Alvstad's battle and victory against Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in 2014-15. Alvstad flew out deep to left in her only at-bat in the fifth and played three innings at first base with one putout.
 
 
Coming Up Next
MSU will host Bradley this weekend in a key Missouri Valley Conference three-game series. The clubs will play a doubleheader Saturday, starting at Noon, followed by a single game Sunday at 11 a.m. The team's Legacy Weekend celebration to commemorate 50 years of Bears softball begins with an alumni reception Friday night and continues with a recognition between games of Saturday's doubleheader.
 
For all the latest information on the Missouri State softball team, including weather and schedule updates, visit MissouriStateBears.com or follow @MSUSoftball on Twitter.
 
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