BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Missouri State softball (7-4) split its first day at the Green and Gold Classic hosted by UAB. The Bears earned a 5-4 win over Southern Illinois to start the day, before falling to No. 1 Tennessee 5-0 to cap the day.
 
Game 1
Missouri State 5, Southern Illinois 4
Missouri State opened up the Green and Gold Classic by facing a familiar foe in Southern Illinois, renewing a former Missouri Valley Conference rivalry.
 
The Bears were able to jump out in front early, posting a huge five-run second inning to take a commanding lead. Lauren Rowland got things started with a leadoff walk, followed by a Riley Baber double and a Brynn Romine RBI single to second base to push the first run across. A couple of batters later with bases loaded and one out, Mya January knocked a three-RBI triple to left field to grow the Bears' lead to 4-0. Alexis Perales then laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached on the fielder's choice to collect an RBI and put Missouri State in front by five runs.
 
MoState's defense kept the Salukis at bay until the fourth inning. SIU utilized a leadoff single, a walk and a passed ball to get two runners in scoring position, and an RBI ground out eventually got the Salukis on the board.
 
After a couple of quiet innings for both squads, the Bears entered the bottom of the seventh with a 5-1 lead and needed just three outs to claim the victory. Southern Illinois made things very interesting in the seventh, taking advantage of a MoState error and hitting a single to put two runners on with just one out. SIU then launched a three-run homer to suddenly cut the Missouri State lead to 5-4. Brylee Brewster came on to pitch for the Bears and immediately got a fly out for out number two, and worked around a walk to get a strikeout looking to end the game and secure the win for MoState.
 
Offensively, Romine and Aubrey Johansen each tallied two hits and January led the way with three runs driven in.
 
The freshmen got the job done in the circle as Emily Koranda improved to 4-1 on the season after tossing 6.1 innings. She allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits while striking out seven Salukis. Brewster came on in relief and earned her first career save, tossing the final 0.2 innings in the win.
 
 
Game 2
No. 1 Tennessee 5, Missouri State 0
In game two of the day, Missouri State put up a great effort against the unanimous No. 1 Tennessee Lady Vols before ultimately falling 5-0.
 
Following a scoreless first inning, Tennessee broke through first with a leadoff homer in the second inning. MoState did a good job to limit the damage in the frame, throwing out a Lady Vol attempting to stretch a double into a triple and getting a couple of ground outs to keep it a 1-0 game.
 
Tennessee later used a couple of hits and free passes to extend the lead to 3-0 in the third before back-to-back lineouts ended the inning.
 
Missouri State had its first real scoring opportunity in the fourth inning as Emily Gerardy hit an infield single and in the next at-bat, a Tennessee error allowed Gerardy to safely reach second and January to reach base on a fielder's choice. Unfortunately, a ground out and strike out put an end to the MoState threat.
 
The Lady Vols tacked on a single run in the fifth and sixth innings via a solo homer and an RBI double to make it a 5-0 game with six innings in the books. The Bears put a couple of singles together to start the top of the seventh, but a strikeout and throw out down to third base quickly put two outs on the board. From there, a line out ended the game with MoState falling 5-0 to the nation's top team.
 
Gerardy accounted for two of MoState's four hits against the Lady Vols. The Bears drew three walks, but stranded seven baserunners on the afternoon. MoState's trio in the circle (Paityn Engemann, Brewster and Makenzi Swick) allowed 12 hits but held the Tennessee offense to just five runs and struck out three.
 
 
UP NEXT
Missouri State will be back in action for day two at the Green and Gold Classic tomorrow (Feb. 21). The Bears will face No. 25 Ole Miss at 11:30 a.m. before taking on host UAB at 4:30 p.m. The game against UAB will stream on ESPN+.