Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score | Season Stats
 
GULF SHORES, Ala. – After a 20-hour travel day on Thursday, the Missouri State softball Bears battled adversity on the field Friday, fighting back from a rough morning to end day one of the Sand Dollar Classic here with a solid victory.
 
Missouri State lost its first game of the event to Western Kentucky, 8-0 in five innings, early Friday, but rebounded to shut out South Alabama, 4-0, Friday evening.
 
"It really shows the character of our team," said MSU head coach Holly Hesse. "We played tight and tired this morning, but we had a big-time effort tonight. After our first game, we talked about being a whole new team, and they really bought into it. Everybody contributed."
 
The Bears (1-1) will play No. 16/17 Auburn at 2 p.m. Saturday before closing out the second day of the tournament against Florida A&M at 5 p.m., at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex.
 
 
Western Kentucky 8, Missouri State 0 (5 innings)
 
Western Kentucky used a big first inning to muscle past the Bears, 8-0, in five innings.
 
The season opener started innocently enough with the Hilltoppers loading the bases on a pair of singles and a hit batsman with two outs in the top of the opening frame. But a bases-loaded walk to Rebekah Englehart, a three-run error, and a wild pitch put Western Kentucky in business as part of a five-run first inning.
 
WKU (1-0) added a single tally in the third on a one-out homer by Englehart and then manufactured a pair of runs in the fifth on back-to-back singles from Taylor Davis and Jordan Vorbrink.
 
Missouri State starter Erin Griesbauer allowed just two earned runs and struck out three before giving way to freshman Bailey Greenlee in the third. Greenlee fanned the first batter she faced in her first college appearance.
 
The Bears scattered two hits and four walks in the game with Daphne Plummer and Rachel Weber each collecting singles. However, WKU starter Kennedy Sullivan was on point most of the game, taking advantage of the early run support to strike out 11 of the 21 Bears she faced in a complete-game performance.
 
 
Missouri State 4, South Alabama 0
 
Sophomore Steffany Dickerson struck out a career-high 10 batters and blasted a two-run home run in the sixth to lead the Bears to a 4-0 win over South Alabama.
 
Dickerson allowed just five singles and four walks in a complete-game effort. She also went 2-for-3 at the plate.
 
Missouri State grabbed the momentum early in the contest when Darby Joerling gunned down USA's MC Nichols at the plate in the bottom of the second to end an early threat by the Jaguars.
 
The Bears capitalized on the emotional uplift the very next inning. Dickerson led the inning off with a base hit, and Kelly Metter then plated pinch runner Abbi LaValley to give MSU its first run of the season and an early 1-0 advantage.
 
Hesse's squad tacked on another run in the fifth on an RBI double by Madison Hunsaker that brought Kyana Mason around to score. Mason finished the game 3-for-4 with three singles.
 
South Alabama threatened again in the bottom of the fifth, putting two runners in scoring position with just one out. But Dickerson and the Bears were up to the task, getting a solid defensive play from Plummer and a grounder to Metter to put out the fire.
 
The Bears then put things on ice in the sixth after a pinch hit by Erin Griesbauer set the table for Dickerson's blast over the center field fence. Her first career homer came on a 1-0 count with one out.
 
South Alabama managed just a walk and a single over the last two innings, and the Bears, who out-hit the Jaguars, 9-5, wrapped up their first victory of the campaign.
 
Megan Harris led South Alabama (0-1) with two hits, while Alexis Reed struck out four in a complete-game effort in the circle.