Columbia, Mo. – The 15th ranked Columbia College softball team was back in action when they hosted the William Woods University Owls in an AMC doubleheader. The Cougars dropped the first game in 10 innings by a score of 4-2 and lost the second game by a final score of 4-3 to move to 23-14 on the season and 16-6 in conference play.
This game served as senior day for the Cougars and before the game six seniors were honored for their hard work and dedication to the program. Seniors Julianna Waldner, Dakota Newton, Alexandra Linck, Rachel Sullivan, Karli Leeper, and Allyson Metz were all recognized.
In the first game, the Owls took an early 1-0 lead after the first. The score would remain the same until in the bottom of the fourth the Cougars were able to tie it up at one. In the sixth, each team grabbed one run to make it 2-2 heading into the seventh. As neither team could grab the lead, the game headed into extra innings where both sides still struggled to score. Finally, in the top of the 10th, the Owls were able to score two runs to take a 4-2 lead. Columbia was unable to rally back in the bottom of the inning and fell 4-2 in game one.
Lexi Dickerson started for the Cougars as she gave up six hits, two earned runs, and had three strike outs in 5.1 innings. Reagen Radke pitched for an inning allowing two hits and one earned run, with one strike out. Kaitlyn Nottelmann entered the game and allowed three hits, two runs, and struck out three batters in 3.2 innings. Offensively, Rachel Sullivan went 1-4 with one run scored, Dakota Newton was 1-5 with one RBI, Molly Carter was 1-5, and Natalie Dummitt went 3-4 with one run scored.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Owls got on the board first with a solo homerun in the top of the first inning, but in the bottom of the inning Molly Carter answered with her own homerun to tie the game at one. William Woods would regain the lead in the third as the score was 2-1. The Owls would extend their lead 4-1 in the top of the fifth. The Cougars were able to cut the lead to one in the bottom of the fifth, but that would be as close as they could get as they dropped game two by a score of 4-3.
Kaitlyn Nottelmann was in the circle as she allowed five hits, four earned runs, and had six strike outs. Offensively, Carter went 1-3 with one run scored and three RBI's, Allyson Metz and Natalie Dummitt were each 1-3, Olivia Denslow went 1-2 with one run scored, and Julianna Waldner went 2-3 with one run scored.
The Cougars are back in action Thursday, April 26th when they travel to Hannibal, Missouri to take on the Hannibal-LaGrange University Trojans in an AMC doubleheader. The first game of the doubleheader is set to start at 2:00 p.m. with the second game to follow.
