Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Pitching ruled the day in Griffon Softball's first day of action at the Kelly Laas Memorial Invite in St. Paul. The team spit a pair of games, defeating Concordia-St. Paul in the morning and falling to Minnesota State in the evening. MWSU will get some rest tomorrow as they play just one game in the crossover event at 9 p.m. against Augustana College. The team is 6-5 heading into Friday's action. 

Game 1: Concordia St.-Paul 0, MWSU 3
Janie Smith blanked the Golden Bears through all seven innings, allowing five hits, while striking out three for her third win of the year (3-3). Missouri Western made the best of limited chances to score. Sydney Washington went 1-2 at the plate and scored two of the Griffon runs, with Morgan Rathmann, Paige Shifflett and Shelbie Atwell adding the other three Griffon hits. 

MWSU got off to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Klosterman drove Washington in with a two-out, RBI single. The team added two more unconvential runs in the sixth. Klosterman was at the plate again for Washington's second run of the game, drawing a bases loaded walk that put MWSU up 2-0. Two batters later, Shifflett scored on a passed ball to put MWSU up 3-0. Concordia-St. Paul loaded the bases in the top of the seventh but Smith forced a ground out to end the game. 

Game 2: Minnesota State 2, MWSU 1
The Mavericks got both their runs in the third with two outs. An RBI single followed by and RBI double game Minnesota State all the runs they needed to take the win. 

The Griffons got on the board in the fourth when Kailey Green's triple drove Katie Klosterman home with two out. Brooke Schaben struck out to end the inning. MWSU managed just five hits against Coley Ries, who struck out 10 Missouri Western batters. Shyanne Saladino picked up her second straight loss despite allowing just six hits in seven innings of work. The junior walked two and struck out one. 

Morgan Rathmann, Tiffany Gillaspy and Rebekah Mueller added the other Griffon hits. Ries picked up six of her 10 strikeouts against the top three in the Griffon order, limiting the team's scoring chances.