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Story Highlights
- The Northwest Missouri State University softball team opened the 2015 season by splitting two games on Friday, defeating Southern Arkansas before losing to Arkansas Tech in extra innings.
- The games were played at Memorial Park in Bentonville, Ark. as a part of the Arkansas-Monticello 8-State Classic.
- The Bearcats won their first game of the day over Southern Arkansas, 12-4.
- Northwest took Arkansas Tech to extra innings, but ended up on the losing side, 8-6.
- Southern Arkansas fell to 3-4 after the loss, while Arkansas Tech moved to 1-0.

Game One Key Statistics
- Northwest tallied 17 hits in the contest and eight of the nine starters had at least one base knock.
- Sarah Baldwin threw a complete game, striking out six and walking two. The junior held the Muleriders to six hits.
- Baldwin faced four or fewer batters in five innings, including three 1-2-3 frames.
- Shortstop Rebecca Maher had singles in her first two at bats, driving in three runs.
- Senior first baseman Stephanie Mark went 3-for-4, including an RBI triple in the second inning. She finished with two RBI and two runs.
- Third baseman Chantel Adams reached base three times, going 2-for-5 and knocking in two runs.
- Second baseman Torri Blythe went 2-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases.
- The Bearcats committed just one error while Southern Arkansas made two errors in the contest.
- A Northwest player crossed the plate in five different innings.

Game One Key Innings
- As the designated visiting team, Northwest opened the contest with five straight baserunners. Torri Blythe led off the contest with a single to left and proceeded to steal second base. Rebecca Maher drove her in on a single past the second baseman. Two batters later, Chantel Adams drove in Maher on a double to deep left field.
- With the bases loaded and three runs across the plate, Southern Arkansas appeared to have a big inning on their hands in the third. Adams made the smart play to get the lead runner on a soft ground ball to record the second out. After a ball got away from catcher Jessica Rawie, the runner at third tried to score. Rawie flipped the ball to pitcher Sarah Baldwin covering the plate, who applied the tag just in time to prevent any further damage in the inning.
 
Game Two Key Statistics
- Northwest once again jumped out to an early lead, capitalizing on Torri Blythe's leadoff single.
- The Bearcats had patience at the plate, earning nine walks.
- Stephanie Mark hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the third inning.
- Blythe finished 1-for-3 at the plate, scoring two runs while swiping her third base of the day.
- Baylee Scarbrough added an RBI in the fifth inning to help extend the Bearcat lead.
- Cassidy Lee was 1-for-2 at the plate, scoring two runs in the process.
- Abbie Vitosh started in the circle for the Bearcats, pitching 4.2 innings and giving up three earned runs while striking out two.
- Senior Paige Blythe came in to relieve Vitosh in the fifth and pitched the final 3.2 innings. The lefty forced nine ground ball outs, as opposed to just one in the air.

Game Two Key Innings
- After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first, the Bearcats found themselves in a 2-1 hole in the top of the third. Cassidy Lee led off with a single to the pitcher, followed by a walk for Torri Blythe. Two batters later, Stephanie Mark crushed a three-run home run to straightaway center to hand Northwest a 4-2 lead.
- Two innings later, Northwest strung together four walks and Rebecca Maher reached on a dropped third strike to extend the Bearcat lead to 6-3.
- Arkansas Tech scored two in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings. Kambri Hill hit a two-run walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Golden Suns the victory
 
Up Next
- The Bearcats will continue play in the 8-State Classic on Saturday when they face off against East Central University at 11 a.m. and Illinois-Springfield at 1 p.m.