Joplin, MO- The UW-Parkside Softball suffered a tough 6-5 defeat in the final game of their four game weekend trip to Missouri in the Teri (Mathis) Zenner Memorial Classic on the campus of  Missouri Southern. It was the first chance to get outdoors for Coach Laura Fillipp's team as she breaks in an entirely new infield for the 2011 campaign.

"It was a rough weekend in a lot of different areas," said Fillipp. "We just couldn't find any consistency."

One of those new starting infielders, shortstop Ashley Sullivan, made an immediate impact going 8-for-12 on the weekend with two doubles while slugging .917.

"(Sullivan) was a huge positive for us this weekend," commented Fillipp. "She was great offensively and solid defensively. She was really the only one who was consistent throughout the whole weekend."

Secondbaseman Lexi Sotiros also had a nice weekend batting .444 (4-for-9) and Nicki Ekstrom added five hits and two RBI.

"Normally to win you've to have two of the three facets (hitting, pitching, and defense) going well," added Fillipp. "In the first game we pitched and played defense well ... then we get two hits. The last game we hit well but our defense lets us down. We just couldn't put it together."

Game Recaps

Game 1
Missouri Southern 3    UW-Parkside 0
Parkside was able to muster just two hits, both off the bat of Sullivan as the Lions (playing their 14th game of the year) beat the Rangers in their season opener. Missouri Southern broke the ice with a two-out single in the third and tacked on a two-run double in the fifth to account for all three runs.

Game 2
Truman State 6    UW-Parkside 2
The Rangers got the bats going in game two on Saturday but were undone by a four-run fifth inning with all four runs coming with two outs. Ekstrom led the way with three hits and drove in both runs with two-out knocks. Sotiros had two hits and scored both of the Parkside runs.

The Rangers collected nine hits in the game but left seven runners on base and hit into two double plays.

Game 3
Northwest Missouri 11    UW-Parkside 0
The Bearcats jumped out with three runs in the first and exploded for eight more in the third leading to the Rangers only lopsided loss of the weekend. Parkside's first two hitters reached to open the game but from that point on they were limited to just one more hit the rest of the way.

Game 4
Upper Iowa 6    UW-Parkside 5
In a back-and-forth game throughout the Peacocks pushed across the eventual winning run with consecutive doubles in the top of the seventh. The Rangers defense committed six errors leading to four unearned after having been charged with just three errors total in the first three games.

After Upper Iowa pushed across three runs in the first Parkside answered immediately to tie the game. Christine Holthus led-off with a double and came around on a Sullivan double two batters later. Meg McCormick knocked in a run on a grounder and Lani Grogan tied the game with a single of her own.

The Rangers took their first lead of the year the very next inning when Holthus singled, stole second, and scored on another Sullivan hit. Upper Iowa took the lead back with a tally in the third and the fifth but Parkside knotted things back up in the bottom of the fifth on Kristin Kleinmeyer's second hit. The Rangers had an opportunity in the seventh getting two runs on but were unable to push across the tying run.

Parkside will return to action Friday as they begin a ten-game Florida Spring Break trip. They will open play at 11:00 a.m. with Lake Erie College.