Tiger softball grounds Griffins

The SLIAC softball standings are tight at the top, and that made Iowa Wesleyan's doubleheader with Fontbonne on Saturday mean that much more. The Tigers came into the game 4-2, just ahead of the 5-3 Griffins, and they came out with a couple of big conference wins.

The Tigers won their fifth and sixth games in a row, shutting down Fontbonne 4-0 in game one and running away with a 10-2 five-inning win in game two.

IW had Fontbonne off-balance in game one. Starting pitcher Morgan Christner dominated the Griffin lineup all game long, and the IW offense was able to grind out four runs, all on extra-base hits.

Christner helped her own cause in the bottom of the third inning, doubling home Ashley Machholz to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. The score would stay that way until the bottom of the fifth when the first of three IW longballs on the day left the yard.

McKenzie Copher and Alex Eyman burned the Griffins with solo home runs in back-to-back innings. Copher sent one off the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth, and Eyman added her own solo shot in the sixth.

Copher stayed hot in the sixth inning as well, doubling home Emmy Rodruiguez to stretch the lead to 4-0. The Griffins couldn't get off the ground in the seventh, and IW took game one.

Copher, Christner and Allison Daum all went 2-3 in the win. Christner threw seven shutout innings and gave up just three hits and one walk, while striking out 10 Fontbonne batters.

IW kept its foot on the gas pedal in the second game, scoring three runs in the first inning. Eyman had a two-RBI double to open the scoring and McKenna Woolery knocked her in when she reached on an error in the next at-bat.

Emma McDanel, who started game two and kept the Griffins at bay early on, helped herself with an RBI single in the second inning. The Tigers led 4-0 after two.

IW busted the game wide open in the third inning. Copher again came through with another homerun, this one a three-run shot to left. The Tigers loaded the bases up shortly after Copher's bomb, and Christner cleared the bases with a three-RBI double, which put the Tigers up 10-0.

Fontbonne was able to plate two runners in the top of the fifth inning, and had runners on second and third with two outs, but McDanel got the last batter to ground out to secure the eight-run mercy rule and end the game.

McDanel was the lone Tiger with multiple hits in game two. She went 2-2 with two runs scored. In the circle, she went the full five innings, giving up two earned runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out one batter.

'Defensively we were on it both games,” said IW head coach Mike Hampton. 'First game we came out, Morgan did well, but the defense stepped up and made the outs. Emma, the second game, was going along pitching really well. She got a little frustrated at the end, but the defense stepped up again and did what they needed to do and kept the eight-run rule.”

IW is now 15-6 overall and 6-2 in conference play. IW is technically in a three-way tie for third place, sitting with the same record as Eureka and Westminster. Spalding is undefeated in the SLIAC, but they've only played two games due to multiple rainouts. Greenville is 7-1.

The Tigers will play at Webster University on Wednesday, April 10. After that, they have just three conference doubleheaders left, all against top teams. They are scheduled to play Greenville, Eureka and Spalding all by the end of the month. With the top four teams making the conference tournament, Hampton says his team is well aware of where they sit.

'I know the ladies are,” he says. 'They're looking at the standings, and this was a big doubleheader. Fontbonne was coming in 5-3 and we were 4-2, and we had never beaten Fontbonne. So this is a big doubleheader for us, but every doubleheader is going to be big for us.”