Parkside softball ended its trip to Arkansas on Monday morning with a doubleheader against Central Missouri, but the Jennies took both games from the Rangers. UCM won game one 9-5 and hung on to take game two 8-6 as both games were played on the campus of Arkansas Tech.
 
GAME 1: Central Missouri 9, Parkside 5
The Rangers started in a hole right out of the gates, as the Jennies took a 5-0 lead at the end of the first inning then added on to the lead, making it 9-0 in the top of the fourth. Parkside battled back, scoring five unanswered runs to end the game, but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Jessica Crull drove in Kellie Fenza and Megan Aliverti with a two-run double in the fourth inning to make it 9-2. In the sixth inning, Cassie Walek singled and Fenza came in to the score on an error, and later in the inning Walek came in to score on a wild pitch, making it 9-4 UCM. The final Parkside run came in thanks to an RBI groundout by Morgan Sikon, which plated Alyssa McClelland.
 
A LOOK AT THE BOX SCORE
Crull finished 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, her first multi-hit and multi-RBI game of the season. Walek went 2-for-4 with a run while Fenza had two runs and Aliverti had a run and drew two walks. Kiley Akey suffered the loss, while Alyssa Hrncar pitched the final 3.2 innings scoreless. UCM had 15 hits and five errors while the Rangers had six hits and three errors.
 
GAME 2: Central Missouri 8, Parkside 6
This time, Parkside put the pressure on early, taking a two-run lead in the first inning. The teams went back-and-forth, with UCM taking a lead in the second, Parkside taking it back in the fourth and UCM tying it up in the bottom of the fourth. The Jennies scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth and held off a potential Parkside comeback that had the bases loaded in the top of the seventh.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Aliverti ripped a two-run double down the line to score Walek and Fenza in the first inning, giving the Green & White a 2-0 advantage. UCM scored one in the bottom of the first, but Parkside answered with two runs of their own on a Fenza two-run single up the middle to make it 4-1.
 
UCM scored the next four runs unanswered, taking a 5-4 lead in the second inning. Parkside again battled back, tying the game on a Morgan Moore RBI single and taking the lead on a sacrifice fly by Sikon in the fourth, but the Jennies scored one in the fourth to tie it and two in the sixth to help seal the win.
 
STATWORTHY
Fenza went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a stolen base for the Rangers, who finished with six hits. Aliverti had a double and two RBI while Crull had a double. Akey pitched the final 2.2 innings and took the loss.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Parkside will head south again, but this time not as far to the Rosemont Dome for five games next weekend. The Rangers will face Lindenwood and Lewis on Friday, William Jewell and Winona State on Saturday and Illinois-Springfield on Sunday.