Morningside takes two in Saturday double

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – Grace Buffington and Jenna Skradski combined for 13 shutout innings, including a no-hitter by Skradski, as the Mustangs defeated receiving votes Bellevue 4-0 and Dakota State 10-0 Saturday at the American State Bank Sports Complex in Sioux Center.

Buffington (4-1) was the star in the circle against Bellevue. She struck out five and allowed four hits and zero runs over seven innings. Of her 92 pitches, 69 of them were strikes. 

Morgan Nixon doubled in two runs in the top of the first inning to give her team a 2-0 lead. Kennedee Jones added a two-run double in the sixth. 

Nixon doubled twice in the game. Ellie Cropley and Sydney Petersen had two hits apiece. Mykel Ann Gray added a double.

It was a no-hitter for Skradski as Morningside defeated Dakota State. Skradski struck out four over six innings in the win. 

The Mustangs scored in every inning but the first against the Trojans. Cropley drove in the first run of the game on a single up the middle, with Taylor Richter scoring. Gray followed up the single by Cropley by reaching on an error that scored both Vanessa Bohuslavsky and Cropley. 

In the bottom of the third, Mackenna Sidzyik tripled to right, scoring Nixon. Katie Murphy grounded out, but Sidzyik scored  and it was 5-0 Mustangs after three. Nixon recorded an RBI-single to score Petersen in the fourth and Murphy doubled home Sidzyik in the fifth.

To cap off a three-win weekend, Jones hit a three-run home run to end the game in the bottom of the sixth. Morningside totaled 12 hits and scored 10 runs in the game. Nixon had three of those hits and scored twice. Sidzyik and Gray tallied two hits apiece. Jones had three of the team's eight RBI on the home run.

Morningside will take advantage of no classes over spring break by heading south to compete in the GCI Tournament March 3-5.