Park University's softball program had a hard-fought series with University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kan. on Saturday and both teams came away with a win in the split. The Spires took game one 9-1 in five innings, while Park won the pitching duel in game two, 3-1.

The Pirates stay at .500 following the Saint Mary series and stand at 6-6 through their first non-conference games of the season.

GAME 1 | L, 1-9 | Box Score

Saint Mary scored in each of the four innings in game one, capped off by a four-run bottom of the fourth. Dakota Rau was in the circle for Park with 3.1 innings pitched and six earned runs. Saint Mary had nine hits for the game, as the last two outs were turned over to Abbie Farmer. Saint Mary had two home runs in the first and last inning to put them on top 9-1 in five innings.
Park's one-hole and two-hole hitters, Caroline Riffer and Halle Magee, came through with two outs in the top of the third for the Pirates' lone run. Riffer singled with two away, stole second, and then Magee drove her in on a double to right-centerfield.

Only three hits were mustered in the game, two coming from Riffer and the other from Magee.

GAME 2 | W, 3-1 | Box Score

It was a lower scoring contest in game two, as this time around Saint Mary had the offensive woes with only one run in the bottom of the second inning. Similarly to the Pirates in game one, the Spires only had three hits in game two.

Lauren Fiene silenced the Spire bats in game two in her complete game with 12 strikeouts. Fiene in her second season with the Pirates now has four games in her career with 10 or more strikeouts, but today she reached a new career-high with 12.

With plenty of zeros on the board on defense, the Pirates were able to manufacture just enough runs to over take the Spires. First in the top of the third, Park's Riffer was able to reach on an error by the shortstop. Two more errors in the inning allowed Riffer to get into scoring position and then come around to tie the game on an error by the third baseman.

When the top of the seventh rolled around, a lead off single up the middle by Emma James set up the inning nicely. Shelby Sanders had a sacrifice bunt to move James to second base. A throwing error by the Spires' second baseman in Nia Muniz' at-bat gave Park the go-ahead run. Magee then had her second RBI hit in the two -game series with a single to centerfield to score Muniz for the 3-1 lead.

The Spires helped the Pirates out with five errors committed in the game and all three runs scored were unearned.

Fiene had all the run support she needed to close out the game by emphatically striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh.

Park will be at the Park Softball Complex for the first time in 2024 on Tuesday, March 12 for a 2pm doubleheader with William Woods University. WATCH