April 28, 2010Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score
AMES, Iowa – On a windy, blustery day in Ames, Iowa that saw 11 home runs between the two Big 12 teams, the No. 10 Missouri Tigers (38-9, 8-6 Big 12) earned a doubleheader sweep over the Iowa State Cyclones, winning by scores of 12-6 and 14-9. The two teams combined for 41 runs on 49 hits in the wild doubleheader.
Missouri rallied in game one, as they were down 6-5 with one out in the top of the seventh before scoring seven times in the inning. The Tiger offense continued rolling into game two, as they scored 14 runs on 15 hits in the win.
Sophomore Kristin Nottelmann picked up the win in the first game, her 14th of the season, after pitching three innings in relief.
Rhea Taylor went 3-for-5 at the plate with two home runs, one a grand slam, and five driven in. Taylor becomes the first Tiger this season to hit two home runs in a single game. Ashley Fleming went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate, while also driving in three runs. Marla Schweisberger picked up a pair of hits, including a two-run home run, while Jenna Marston doubled twice and scored twice.
Taylor wasted no time extending her hitting streak to 12 games in game one, as she delivered an opposite-field home run on a 2-2 count to give Mizzou the early 1-0 lead.
Iowa State was able to take the lead in the second when they plated a pair of two-out runs. With one runner on and two outs, Heidi Kidwell legged out an infield single to put two on, as she received the benefit of the doubt on a bang-bang play at first. After a passed ball moved both Cyclone runners up, Carrie Monroe lined a single into the gap to drive in the pair.
ISU extended their lead to 4-1 in the third with a two run home run. A one-out single set up Erica Miller, who homered for the fifth time this season.
The Tigers had a chance to get back in the game in the fourth after back-to-back singles by Fleming and Schweisberger put two on with no one out. After a strikeout, a passed ball moved the two runners up a base. A check-swing single by Gina Schneider plated Fleming to cut the lead to 4-2. Schneider then stole second, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat.
With one out, Catherine Lee drew her second walk of the game, which set up Marston's first of two doubles in the game to put runners on second and third. Fleming then singled back up the middle to bring home both baserunners, tying the game at 4-4.
In the sixth, Missouri was able to take the lead for the first time since the second inning. Abby Vock led off with a walk, and then moved to second on a passed ball and over to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Ashlie Ortega stepped in to pinch-hit and hit a sacrifice fly to left, plating Vock to put Mizzou up 5-4.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Iowa State got a leadoff homerun by Courtney Wray in the bottom of the inning, tying the game at five apiece. Two batters later, Alex Johnson homered to left, putting the Cyclones back in the lead 6-5.
For the second straight game, the Tigers mounted a big rally in the top of the seventh. After Iowa State got the first out of the inning, Marston and Fleming followed with back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 6-6. Schweisberger then connected on her eighth home run of the year to give Missouri the 8-6 advantage. From there, Mizzou just piled it on. With two outs, Abby Vock reached on an error to keep the inning alive, and back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Taylor. Taylor connected on a 0-1 pitch for her second home run of the game, a grand slam, to give the Tigers a 12-6 lead.
Iowa State loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom half, but Nottelmann got a fly out to end the threat and the game.
The Tiger bats stayed red-hot in game two, as they picked up five runs on five hits in the first inning. Taylor picked up a hit for the 13th straight game with an infield single, while Lee did the same thing, giving the Tigers two on and nobody out. Marston followed with a home run to right-center field for her fourth blast of her freshman campaign. Taylor, who scored on the play, becomes the all-time leading runs scorer at Missouri with 165 career runs.
Fleming followed Marston with a home run of her own, while the Tigers got an unearned run off of the bat of Shana White. White slapped a single into left, but the ball got under the left fielder's glove and rolled all the way to the wall, allowing White to get to third and Lindsey Muller, who was hit by a pitch, to come around and score.
Muller helped herself in the top of the third, when she connected on a one-out home run. The bomb over the left field wall gives her four on the season. White followed with a walk, while a single by Schneider advanced her to second. Taylor singled through the left side to score White, extending Mizzou's lead to 7-1.
In the top of the fifth, a sacrifice fly by Taylor was followed by a home run by Lee, giving the Tigers the 9-1 edge. Iowa State tacked on two in the bottom of the fifth to make it 9-3.
The Tigers loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the sixth, setting up a two-run single by Taylor, giving her nine RBI on the day and putting Missouri ahead 11-3.
Iowa State made it a game, however, with a six-run bottom of the sixth to make it 11-9. The Cyclones picked up six hits and took advantage of two Tiger errors to avoid the run-rule and get themselves back in the contest.
Missouri gave themselves some breathing room with a three-run seventh, pushing their lead to 14-9. Schweisberger doubled in Marston, who led off the inning with a double, to drive home one run. Fleming scored on a groundout, and Jaydee Young, pinch running for Schweisberger, came home on a wild pitch.
Jana Hainey picked up her second save of the season with 1.1 innings of hitless ball.
Taylor collected three more hits and drove in four, while Marston added three hits and three RBI of her own. Lee and Fleming each picked up two hits.
Missouri returns home tomorrow for a game against Central Methodist beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT. This weekend, the Tigers close out their 2010 regular season home schedule with Baylor, beginning with Senior Day on Saturday.