BENTONVILLE, Ark. – It was another split for No. 16 Griffon Softball as the team won its first game and lost its second of the Arkansas-Monticello 8-State Classic.
 
Game 1: #16 MWSU 2, East Central 0
Kailey Green and Paige Shifflett hit solo home runs and Janie Smith limited East Central to four singles in a 2-0 victory to open the 8-State Classic.
 
Green put the Griffons up 1-0 in the second when she hit a two-out, solo homer to right center that hit a car parked outside the fence. Shifflett hit her first long ball of the year in the following inning, drilling a pitch to right field that left the park in a hurry, giving Missouri Western a 2-0 lead. Smith held the lead, wiggling out of her only real jam in the sixth. With the tying run at first, Smith allowed a single to center but Morgan Rathmann threw a runner out at the plate to end the inning.
 
Smith moved to 2-1 on the year with her first shutout of the season. The senior struck out six and walked one. Rathmann went 3-4 with a double and Shelbie Atwell was 2-3.  
 
Game 2: Arkansas Tech 8, #16 MWSU 2
A five-run sixth inning for Arkansas Tech turned a tight game into a one-sided one as defensive miscues hurt the Griffons late in the game.
 
Two errors and three singles hurt Missouri Western in the sixth with all five Arkansas Tech runs that inning coming after Shyanne Saladino had retired two batters. Arkansas Tech tacked on two more in the top of the seventh on a two-run home run to the second batter of the inning. Missouri Western took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on a RBI singles from Shifflett and Taylor Hamilton.
 
Saladino was tagged with the loss, allowing three earned runs on two home runs in seven innings of work. She gave up nine hits and struck out one. Shifflett went 2-4 at the plate and Green went 2-3.
 
The loss dropped the Griffons to 3-3 on the year. The team is scheduled to play Southern Arkansas, Saturday at 9 a.m. and Missouri S&T at 11 a.m.