ABILENE, Texas – First baseman Rachel Ripley hit a pair of home runs as McMurry University Softball split a road doubleheader at Hardin-Simmons University Friday afternoon. McMurry took game one in five innings, 9-1, before HSU earned the split with a 6-4 win in game two.
The series finale has been postponed from Saturday to Sunday at 1 p.m.
McMurry 9, Hardin-Simmons 1 (5 inn.)
Ripley hit two home runs with five RBIs as the War Hawks (6-7, 1-4 ASC) run-ruled the Cowgirls (4-7, 1-1 ASC) in game one. She hit her first home run in the second inning to cap a four-run frame, then hit a three run shot in the fourth to put McMurry up 8-1.
The Cowgirls got their lone run in the bottom of the fourth, but the War Hawks got the run back in the top of the fifth on a wild pitch that scored outfielder Summer Quiroga.
McMurry got on the board in the top of the first when outfielder Ashley McClellan scored the game's first run on a Cowgirl error. The War Hawks then tacked on four in the second for a 5-0 lead, scoring the first two runs on a single by Mikayla Krause single before the Ripley home run.
Junior Hope Schoeneman went all five innings in the circle, allowing just one run on five hits with five strikeouts.
Ripley and Quiroga each had two hits at the plate, while McClellan scored three runs and had one hit.
Hardin-Simmons 6, McMurry 4
The Cowgirls scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning as they held off the War Hawks for the doubleheader split. HSU tallied a two-run home run and an RBI single in the frame.
McMurry got a run back in the top of the second when outfielder Kollin Morris scored on a throwing error, but the Cowgirls kept the War Hawks off the board until the fifth while adding two runs on a double in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead.
The War Hawks scratched across single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings with RBIs by McClellan, second baseman Avery McDaniel and Ripley. The War Hawks left the bases loaded in the sixth and left seven on base for the game.
Kamwren Jackson took the loss in the circle after allowing three runs on five hits in one innings, while Madison Morgan pitched the remaining five innings in relief. Morgan allowed three runs on six hits, striking out two.
Both Ripley and McClellan finished with two hits and an RBI.
