Parkville, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College softball team was back in action when they traveled to Parkville, Missouri, to take on Park (Mo.) University (18-15) in an AMC doubleheader. The Cougars, who came into the doubleheader on a five game winning streak, were able to extend their streak to seven straight games after defeating the Pirates in the first game by a final score of 6-3 and in the second game by a final score of 4-0. With the sweep, Columbia improved to 36-5 on the season and clinched a share of the AMC regular season title with a 21-1 mark in conference play.

During the game, the NAIA national office announced its third regular season NAIA Softball Coaches' Top 25 Poll for the 2017 season. The Cougars, who went 9-1 since the last poll was release on April 4^th, moved down one spot to number three in the latest polls.

In their first game against the Pirates, Columbia College was able to string together nine hits to notch their sixth straight victory. Carly Spalding got things going for the Cougars as she led off the game getting hit by a pitch and then later came around to score to give Columbia an early 1-0 lead. The Cougars were able to add runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings and took a 4-0 lead into the seventh. Columbia picked up two more runs in the top of the seventh, but the Pirates responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame to cut the Cougars lead in half. With two outs and runners on first and third for the Pirates in the final half inning, Kaitlyn Nottelmann (2-0) came into the game and was able to get the only batter she faced to ground out to Molly Carter at shortstop to notch her third save of the season.

Paxton Welch (15-4) was the starting pitcher in the first game as she struck out four batters while allowing just six hits and two earned runs in 6.2 innings of work. Offensively, the Cougars were led by Olivia Denslow who went 2-2 with an RBI and Theresa DeCosty who went 1-1 with two runs scored.

In their second game against the Pirates, the Cougars got off to another quick start as Carly Spalding singled to start the game and later came around to score on a Molly Carter sacrifice fly to give Columbia a 1-0 lead. Neither side was able to get anything going over the next few innings but a three run six inning from the Cougars gave them a 4-0 advantage heading into the seventh. Park did their best to get back into the game but Columbia was able to close them out down the final stretch and complete the two game sweep.

Lauren McCroskie (18-1) was in the circle for this game as she struck out one batter while allowing just three hits in the complete game shutout. In addition, Rachel Sullivan went 1-2 with two RBI's and Allyson Metz went 2-2 with a run scored to lead the Cougars at the plate..

Columbia College is back in action on Thursday, April 20^th when they host Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University (19-8) in their final doubleheader of the regular season. The first game of the doubleheader is set to start at 2 p.m. with the second game to follow at Antimi Softball Complex.