WMU vs. Iowa State Game Stats
WMU vs. St. Louis Game Stats
ST. LOUIS - Western Michigan softball opened the University of St. Louis Tournament with a 5-1 loss to Iowa State and then out hit St. Louis later this afternoon but allowed a walk-off base hit in the bottom of the eighth inning to fall 1-0 to the host on Saturday at the Billiken Sports Center.
The Broncos opened action on Saturday against the Cyclones of Iowa State by posting a one-run lead after the first inning. Lexi Jager led off the game by reaching on a fielding error by the third baseman. She moved to second on a sacrifice bunt off the bat of Sarah Thomas. Gracie Barstad moved Jager over to third on a fly out and Meredith Whitney wrapped a single into center field to score WMU's lone run of the game.
The Cyclones were held to just one hit until the home half of the fourth inning when Iowa State plated two runs on back-to-back doubles. ISU followed with another in the fifth when a base runner scored on a fielding error with two outs in the frame. Iowa State tacked on two more in the sixth with a two-RBI single, again with two outs in the inning.
Western Michigan managed just three hits during the game as Courtney Rousseau followed Whitney with a single in the fourth inning and Michelle Bendewald led off the fifth with a base knock to left field.
WMU faces tournament host St. Louis later in the day and despite out hitting the Billikens, stranded five base runners on the paths in the one-run, extra-inning loss. The Broncos fell to 1-3 in games decided in extra innings so far this season with the loss to SLU.
Western Michigan gathered a pair of hits in the opening frame on a single from Jager and another from Sarah Thomas but could not get a run across the plate. WMU collected another hit in the third inning on a single from Jenn Tschetter but again the Broncos ended the frame without a run.
WMU's held SLU hitless until a single in the bottom of the fourth. The Billikens did not scratch out another base hit until the deciding hit in the home half of the eighth inning. WMU had a base runner reach third base to open the eighth but Tschetter and Jager each lined out to first base to end the threat.
The Broncos will do it all over again against St. Louis and Iowa State to close out the tournament on Sunday. WMU returns to its home state on March 24 for a date at Michigan State before taking nine days off heading into the Mid-American Conference opening series at home against Buffalo (April 2).
