No. 11 Cougars take two tight contests

Regardless of who made the most memorable plays, the end results were the same. The Cougars (37-14) swept the Jennies in two close non-conference games, both by the score of 4-3, at Cougar Field.

The second game of the twinbill belonged to senior Tara Gaines.

With the Cougars trailing by one in the bottom of the fourth, the third baseman hit a blast to the gap in right-center field. She scored one batter later as fellow senior, and former Hannibal High School teammate, Sheri Zeiger hit a single to bring Gaines home.

“Tara has been a huge boost for us all season,” said senior Judy Lochmann. “That big hit gave us all something to cheer about.”

As the leadoff hitter, Gaines has been expected to begin the offense every game and, despite having an early season slump, she has responded with a team-high .358 batting average.

Gaines’ triple sparked the two-run fourth inning that gave the Cougars their first lead at 2-1.

The NCAA Division II Jennies (17-22), the female counterpart to the CMS Mules, had a chance to take the lead an inning later, but were stunted by the defensive brilliance of 2000 All-NAIA selections Carly Millsap and Lochmann.

With a runner on third and the Jennies’ Thea Summers threatening to bunt, Cougar first baseman Lochmann guessed right and ran toward home plate. Lochmann picked up the bunt barehanded and threw home where catcher Millsap took the brunt of a charging Casey McAllister blow and tagged her out to preserve the Cougar lead.

The Cougars added one run in the fifth and sixth innings and withstood a late two-run seventh inning comeback effort.

In the opening game, freshman sensation Kristina Jones hit another mammoth shot, this time to dead center, barely missing the fence for what would have added to her team-high six home runs. Her double in the bottom of the third inning allowed Gaines and Zeiger to score, cutting the Cougar deficit to 3-2.

“That was the spark we needed to get us started today,” said coach Wendy Spratt.

CMS scored two in the top of the second inning on a Whitney Fletchall error. The senior Cougar second baseman was chasing after a bloop to short right-center field but did not hear the “I’ve got it” from center fielder Tara Adams. The two collided and the ball dropped to allow CMS runners McAllister and Brandy Remington to score.

Lochmann scored on a wild pitch by CMS pitcher Gwen Giffen in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 3. Giffen, the Jennies’ usual starting second baseman, was moved into the pitching rotation after a number of players were kicked off the CMS softball team for disciplinary reasons. The team was severely shorthanded, having only four bench players.

The No. 1 seeds from the American Midwest Conference go on to face the winner of the Missouri Baptist and Park in the opening round game in the 2000 AMC Tournament at Cosmopolitan Park Friday at 1:45 p.m.

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