Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Getting a sneak preview of the newest member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Webster University softball team split a doubleheader with Iowa Wesleyan College, losing the first, 1-0, and winning the nightcap, 6-0.  Rachel Franck (FR, McCluer North HS, MO) started on the mound for game two and improved to 5-0 on the season as a burst of power opened up a sluggish Gorlok offense.

After scratching out just four hits and one walk while being shutout in the opener, Webster doubled its home run output for the season in game two, homering twice in the second inning.  With two down, Taylor Gibbs (SO, Alton HS, IL) hit a home run just over the fence in right center field to stake the Gorloks to a 1-0 lead.  Two batters later, Kayla Mahoney (SR, Fox HS, MO) homered to left center, following a KelleyBridgmon (JR, SeckmanHS, MO) single.

The Gorloks tacked on three more runs in the third.  A lead off single by Franck, walk to Molly Muntz (JR, Streator HS, IL), and a single by Aly Watson (SR, Ft. Zumwalt South HS, MO) loaded the bases with no one out.  On a ground ball by Kaytlin Burczak (SR, Bishop McNamara HS, IL), the Tiger shortstop threw a one-hopper to home plate away as Franck and Muntz scored.  With one out, Watson scored on a grounder to short by Gibbs, giving Webster a 6-0 lead.

Franck sailed along through five innings, giving up no runs and just one hit and one walk, while striking out four.  Franck, who is nursing an arm ailment, gave way to Trisha Thompson (JR, Xavier Prep HS, AZ) who pitched a 1-2-3 sixth.  In the seventh, after allowing a one-out double, back to back Gorlok errors loaded the bases.  Thompson bore down to strike out the final two Tigers, preserving the win and the shutout.  In addition to going 5-0 to start her collegiate career, Franck sports a gaudy 0.49 ERA on the season.

In the 1-0 loss in the opener, Thompson pitched more than well enough to win, going the full seven innings, striking out nine and walking none.  Thompson gave up only three hits...but one of them was a Wesleyan solo home run to lead off the sixth.  That would prove to be the only run of the game.  Thompson whittled her season ERA down to 2.23 with the nine innings of one run work on the day.  The 11 strikeouts give her 73 on the year in 59 2/3 innings pitched.

Webster is scheduled to play a doubleheader vs. the University of Wisconsin-Plateville at Blackburn Park on March 25.  The Gorloks travel to Fulton, MO, on March 27 to open play in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.