ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Combining a near-perfect day in the circle and a powerful showing at the plate, Griffon Softball swept Sunday's doubleheader vs. Wayne State, improving to 4-0 this season at the Spring Sports Complex.

GAME 1
Missouri Western 6, Wayne State 0
Starting the day off with a bang, Chloe Armstrong crush a solo home to left field to give the Griffons a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Abby Dickey laced her first-career triple to right-center field  scoring Ryan Gere and Bubba Hoelscher to put MWSU up 3-0 in the second. The bats stayed hot when Armstrong homered again in the fifth, ricocheting a ball off the left-field pole to increase the lead to 4-0. After Hoelscher scored due to a Wayne State error, Armstrong closed out the scoring with a bases-loaded walk.

With plenty of run support, pitcher Sam Pederson went to work, throwing seven innings of shutout softball while striking out seven Wildcats .Pederson was nearly perfect, only allowing one hit and allotting zero walks.

GAME 2
Missouri Western 11, Wayne State 1 (five innings)
Taking just a bit longer to score this time around, Missouri Western (16-5) jumped all over Wayne State (4-17) with four runs in the second inning. Kalee Higdon doubled down the left-field line to get the Griffs in gear, as Jada Collins kept the line moving with an RBI single through the left side. Natalee Weber punched a pitch right back up the middle to score Collins, eventually scoring thanks to a Mackenzie Devine RBI single through the right side of the infield. 

Missouri Western kept the floodgates open an inning later, spotting six runs more on the board in the third. Kennedy Preston walked the with bases loaded, setting up a Sydni Hawkins double down into the left-field corner. Armstrong collected her fourth and fifth RBI of the doubleheader with a single up the middle, scoring Hawkins and Weber. After a quick, one-run response by Wayne State in the fourth, Liz Vaupel joined in on the fun an RBI single to left in bottom half of the frame.

In just four innings, pitcher Harley Pruetting struck out seven batters while only giving up one earned run. Natalie Kissinger tossed a perfect fifth inning to seal MWSU's sweep of Wayne State, sending the Wildcats back to Nebraska with an 11-1 run-rule decision.

NOTABLES

•  Armstrong's three RBI in game one marks a season-high. It is also the second multi-home run game of her career.
• This is Pederson's fifth-straight game with five strikeouts or more. She leads the team with six complete games.
• Hoelscher scored four runs throughout the day, crossing home plate twice in both games. She went 3-for-3 in game one.

UP NEXT
Missouri Western takes on Upper Iowa (7-7) of the NSIC on Monday at 1 and 3 p.m. back at the Spring Sports Complex. The Peacocks last played on March 10, beating Southern Connecticut State and American International College in Leesburg, Florida.