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Story Headlines
- The Northwest Missouri State softball team won its final two non-conference matchups before conference play opens next weekend.
- The games wrapped up the Teri Mathis-Zenner Memorial Tournament, hosted by Missouri Southern State University at the Joplin Athletic Complex in Joplin, Mo.
- Sarah Baldwin set a career mark in strikeouts in the opening win over McKendree, 6-0.
- The Bearcats wrapped up a perfect 4-0 weekend with a 5-1 victory over Sioux Falls in game two.
- Northwest is now 10-2 on the season, tied for the fewest games needed to reach 10 wins in school history (1975 and 1976). McKendree falls to 5-10 overall while Sioux Falls dips to 6-2 this season.
 

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Game One Key Statistics (Northwest beat McKendree, 6-0)
- Sarah Baldwin (2-0) tossed one of her best outings as a Bearcat, striking out a career-best 12 batters in the two-hit shutout. The senior was one strikeout shy of the Northwest 7-inning record (13, Jennifer Spencer, 3/26/82 vs. Austin Peay).
- Torri Blythe was perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored. The junior added one stolen base.
- Junior Chantel Adams drove in two runs, finishing 2-for-3 with one run scored.
- Madison Jones crushed her third home run of the season, going 2-for-4 at the dish.
- Left fielder Kendle Schieber finished 1-for-3 and scored one run.
- Sophomore Rebecca Maher drove in two runs on a fourth inning single.
- Jessica Rawie reached base on a double and a walk, driving in one run.

Game One Key Innings
- Blythe led off the game and dropped in a single to short left field and promptly swiped second. After advancing on a fly ball to deep center, the junior came in to score when Adams soared a sacrifice fly down the left field line.

- After giving up a walk and a single to open the game, Baldwin retired 18-straight batters, recording at least one strikeout in every inning.

- Blythe opened the third inning with a double off the wall in left center before moving to third on a wild pitch. Three batters later, Adams sent a 2-2 pitch past a diving third baseman, scoring Blythe.

- The Bearcats pushed three runs across in the fourth inning when Jones crushed a no-doubt home run to left center. With two outs, Schieber reached on an infield single to short and moved to third when Blythe drove a double just over the glove of the second baseman. Maher sent them both home with a single to left on a hanging pitch.

- Northwest grabbed its final run in the fifth when Adams sent a screamer right back to the pitcher, ricocheting towards the third base dugout. After moving to second on a passed ball, the third baseman came around to score when Rawie pulled a double down the left field line.
 

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Game Two Key Statistics (Northwest beat Sioux Falls, 5-1)
- Kendle Schieber (4-2) picked up her second-straight complete game victory, giving up six hits and just one run. The senior struck out six while walking one.
- Rebecca Maher finished 3-for-4 with one RBI.
- Torri Blythe legged out her first triple of the season, finishing 2-for-4 with two RBIs and one run.
- Third baseman Chantel Adams drove in one run with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate.
- Alexis Kelsey singled twice, scoring one run and driving in another.
- Kiana Baderdeen scored a run after tripling in the fifth inning.

Game Two Key Innings
- Jessica Rawie led off the top of the second with a bloop single to left. Madison Jones laid down a sacrifice bunt right in front of the plate, but the catcher tried to mow down the runner at second with Rawie beating the throw. Later, Blythe scored them both with a two-run triple to the gap in right center.

- Both Blythe and Lea Crouse made sliding grabs to help retire the side in order in the third.

- Baderdeen started a two-out rally in the fifth when she legged out a triple down the right field line. Kelsey drove her in on the very next pitch with a soft single to left. After Maher singled through the left side, Adams added a sharp single just under the third baseman's glove, allowing Kelsey to score from second.

- The Bearcats tacked on an insurance run in the seventh after Blythe led off with a single through the hole at short. Blythe scored from second on Maher's single to right.
 

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Up Next
- The Bearcats will open conference play next weekend when they play host to Central Oklahoma Friday, March 4 at Bearcat field. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m.