Mustangs win two in McPherson

McPHERSON, Kan. – A day after losing a pair of games in Wichita, Kansas Thursday, the Mustangs rebounded with a pair of wins to open the McPherson Tournament in McPherson, Kansas Friday.

The Mustangs walked-off Tabor 6-5 in their first game of the day, and defeated Bethel 11-1 in five innings in game two. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning of game one, Sydney Petersen doubled to bring in Mykel Ann Gray and Ellie Cropley, giving the Mustangs a win. Petersen also scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first, coming home on a Morgan Nixon double.

Taylor Richter helped Morningside extend the lead in the bottom of the second with an RBI-groundout. Tabor scored four runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead. 

Gray singled to bring in Vanessa Bohuslavsky and Nixon doubled to score Liz Hammer to make it 5-4 heading into the seventh, where Petersen won the game for Morningside.

Grace Buffington earned the win in the circle, pitching three and two-thirds innings with three strikeouts. Petersen tallied three hits and two RBI at the plate. Nixon added a pair of doubles and two RBI. Gray had two base knocks.

In game two, it was all Mustangs from the start. In the first inning, Nixon tripled home two runners and Ellie Gengler recorded a sacrifice flyout to score Nixon. After Bethel scored one in the second to make it 3-1 Mustangs, Richter recorded two RBI on an error in third and Petersen homered to bring in two more in the fourth. 

A Gengler double scored Nixon in the fourth to make it 8-1 Morningside. In the fifth, Cropley tripled home a runner, Gray singled home Cropley and Nixon doubled home yet another run to give Morningside the 10-run victory.

Buffington pitched four innings, striking out two in the win. Jordan Skradski pitched a clean inning as well.

Nixon, Petersen, and Cropley had three hits each, with Nixon driving in three and Petesen two runs. Gengler and Richter added two RBI in the game.

Morningside has two more games scheduled for this weekend, facing Mayville State and Bethany Saturday.