Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the second ranked Columbia College softball team was back in action when they played host to the 19^th ranked Williams Baptist (Ark.) College Eagles for a doubleheader in the AMC Game of the Week. The Cougars, who swept their doubleheader against Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) University on Friday, were able to stay at the top of the AMC after defeating the Eagles by a final score of 5-1 in the first game and 5-2 in the second. With the sweep, Columbia improves to 34-5 on the season and (19-1) in conference play.

This game served as senior day for the Cougars and before the game Carly Spalding, Paxton Welch, Lauren McCroskie, Charryl Moody, and Theresa DeCosty were all recognized for their hard work and dedication to the program throughout their time in Columbia. Additionally, the Cougars also recognized the sponsors from the softball team for their contributions to the program.

In their first game against the Eagles, the Cougars came out and rallied for two runs in the top of the first to jump out to an early 2-0 lead. However, the Eagles responded quickly to Columbia's runs and scored a run of their own in the top of the second to cut the Cougars lead to 2-1. The Cougars continued to hit the ball well as the game progressed and were able to score one run in the bottom of the second and two runs in the bottom of the fifth to solidify their 18^th conference win of the season. Paxton Welch (14-4) was the starting pitcher is this game as she struck out three batters while allowing just three hits and one earned run in seven innings in the circle. Offensively, Columbia College was led by Molly Carter who added to her record breaking season by going 2-3 with two RBI's.

In their second game against the Eagle, neither side was able to get anything going through the first few innings of play. Williams Baptist was finally able to break into the scoring column in the top of third inning but the Cougars immediately answered with a run of their own to tie the game at one heading into the fourth. Columbia added one more run in the bottom of the fourth when Samantha Myers scored on a RBI single from Natalie Dummitt, and then scored two runs in the fifth and one run in the sixth to take a 5-1 lead into the seventh. The Eagles threatened to get back into the game in their final at-bats but the Cougars were able to get the final few out and clinched their fifth straight win. Lauren McCroskie (17-1) was in the circle in this one as she struck out one batter while allowing six hits and two earned runs in the complete game. In addition, Julianna Waldner went 1-1 with a solo homerun and two runs scored to lead Columbia at the plate.

The Cougars are back in action on Tuesday, April 18^th when they travel to Parkville, Missouri, to take on the Park (Mo.) University Pirates an AMC doubleheader. The first game of the doubleheader is set to start at 2 p.m. with the second game to follow.