St. Louis – The Maryville softball team snapped an eight-game losing streak by earning a split against crosstown rival the University of Missouri-St. Louis Tuesday evening. The Saints fell in the opener, 5-2 and rallied from three runs down to take the nightcap, 6-5.
The Tritons raced out to a 3-0 lead after the first three innings before Maryville cut into the advantage in the home half of the fourth.
Sheridon Sprague jumped started the Saints attack with a double to left field and scored as
Casey Ward smacked another double to left to cut the UMSL lead to 3-1.
Samantha Hausl then delivered the Saints third straight double to score Ward and get Maryville to within a run at 3-2. The Tritons added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth to extend the lead to 5-2 as Carly Kingery put down the Saints in order in the sixth and seventh to earn the win for the Tritons.
Nikki Taylor suffered the loss to fall to 8-9 on the season in giving up five runs on 10 hits while ward and Sprague each had a pair of hits to lead the Maryville attack.
UMSL opened the night cap with a three-run homer in the top of the first inning to take a 3-0 lead, but the Saints answered with a pair of run of their own as
Courtney Ferguson started the home half of the inning with single up the middle and moved to second as Sprague and Taylor each drew walks to load the bases. Hausl then smashed a ground rule double down the right field line to score two runs and cut the Triton lead to 3-2. UMSL added runs in the second and third innings to extend their lead to 5-2, but the Saints did not go away quietly.
Maryville scored a run in the bottom of the fourth as Ward drew a walk with two outs and scored on a throwing error to cut the UMSL lead to 5-3. The Saints continued the comeback in the fifth as
Alyssa Callans doubled to open the frame and scored on a Ferguson single to right to get the Saints to within a run at 5-4.
Kelsey Martin then smacked a single to left field to move up Ferguson and put runners at second and third. Ferguson then scored on a throwing error to tie the contest and Hausl drilled a single to left field to score Martin and give the Saints a 6-5 advantage. Taylor held the Tritons in check over the final two innings to earn her ninth win of the season as the Saints improved to 15-19 and 5-9 in GLVC play.
Hausl led the way for Maryville by going 2-for-3 with three runs batted in while Ferguson added a pair of hits with two runs scored in the nightcap.
Maryville returns to the diamond on Saturday afternoon as the Saints travel to take on Quincy to take on the Hawks. The first game of the doubleheader is set to start at noon.
