Parkville, Mo. - The No. 9 Central Methodist softball team earned a pair of shutout wins against Heart newcomer Park University by scores of 10-0 and 5-0 Sunday afternoon in Parkville, Mo.
With the wins, Central improves to 18-1 and 4-0 in the Heart, while Park drops to 0-6 and 0-2 in conference play. They also hold the top spot in the Heart South Division standings and own the best winning percentage in the conference at .947.
The Eagles jumped out in front quickly in game one, scoring four runs in the top of the first. Kelena Oots, Morgan Willis, and Kelli Gorman strung together three consecutive singles, the last which brought Oots home from third. Hannah Criswell then reached base on a wild throw from Park's second basemen to score Willis. After a walk from Madison White and a flyout to right field, Micaela Harcrow then singled to left field to score two, and push Central's lead to 4-0.
Central added two more runs in the third, courtesy of and RBI single from Harcrow and a fielder's choice from Jordan Jenkins which scored Katelyn Kiser. The Eagles then added two runs in the fourth and two runs in the fifth and closed the Pirates down in the bottom of the frame to earn a 10-0 game one win in five innings.
Oots led the Eagle bats in game one, batting a perfect three-for-three including a triple. Gorman, Criswell, and Harcrow each picked up two hits, while Harcrow drove in three runs. Criswell and Gorman each scored two and Oots swiped two bases and drew a walk.
Junior pitcher Keighlan Cronin collected her ninth win of 2021, throwing another complete game and giving up only one hit and two walks. She also struck out seven of 16 batters faced. Overall the St. Charles, Mo. native currently boasts a 0.97 earned run average through 50.1 innings of work.
In game two, CMU scored three runs in the opening frame, the first being on a ground out from White which scored Oots, followed by an error from the Park second basemen to score Willis. The Eagles capped the inning with a double steal, which saw Love make it home from third while Kiser stole second.
In the top of the fifth, Gorman extended Central's lead to 4-0 on a solo home run to left field, her third in the last four games. She followed that up with an RBI single in the next inning to score Jenkins, making the final score 5-0 in favor of the Eagles.
Love had another stellar outing in the circle, as the junior tossed all seven innings, giving up no runs on five hits and a walk. She also struck out six batters. In addition, Love, along with Gorman, Harcrow and Katelyn Kolb collected two hits apiece.
The Eagle baserunners finished the afternoon with four stolen bases, led by Kiser, who swiped two bases.
CMU returns to action against Evangel University on Wednesday, March 24 at 5:00 p.m. in Springfield, Mo. Evangel will be allowing visiting fans to Wednesday's games.
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