AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The Southwest Minnesota State softball team (3-5) kicked off the annual spring break trip to Central Florida with a 9-1 victory over Nyack (N.Y.) (0-1) in five innings and an 11-3 victory over Assumption (Mass.) (1-3) at the Auburndale Softball Complex on Sunday afternoon.

The Mustangs amassed 13 hits in the five-inning victory over Nyack, led by Bailey Johnson and Lileya Kebos, who each recorded three hits, while Emma Grote and Madysson Schliinz recorded two hits apiece.

Megan Cull (1-0) earned the victory in the circle, tossing all seven innings with seven strikeouts.

Nyack went on the board in the top of the first and would hold a 1-0 lead until SMSU would come out even after two complete when Kaylea Van Regenmorter ripped an RBI-single to center field to score Kebos.

The Mustangs utilized a huge momentum in the bottom of the third to finish recording six runs off seven hits and leaving two on base. Johnson kicked it off in the top of the inning doubling down the left line, followed by a single from Grote. Kali Tomlinson reached on an error before Jillian Noel smacked a 2-RBI single up the middle.

Kebos followed it up with another 2-RBI single to drag two more across. The Mustangs would keep the scoring going with a double from Kaylee Hentges and a 2-RBI single from Schliinz would finish up the six-run inning.

Cull came out in the top of the fourth to strike out the side and would return in the fifth to retire the side to keep Nyack at one run.

The Mustangs returned in the seventh as Schliinz kicked off with a single up the middle, followed by a double from Johnson. It was Grote’s 2-RBI single that would score Alisha Lebor, pinch runner for Johnson, and Schliinz, ending the game in the fifth.

In the 11-3 victory over Assumption, Johnson led once again, going 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs.

SMSU got the scoring going in the top of the second with an early lead of a single to the short stop from Hentges to bring in Kristin Neumann, pinch runner for Noel.

The Mustangs scrapped together two more runs in the bottom of the third as Tomlinson walked with the bases loaded and Noel sent a sac fly to left field to score Johnson.

In the top of the fourth, with only one out, the Mustangs strung together three consecutive hits to score four off four hits.

Assumption would score its first run of the game with a two-run inning in the fourth and again with one-run in the sixth, but it would be no match for the Mustangs’ 12 hits.

Allison Christians (2-1) tossed all seven innings to earn the victory in the circle.

Southwest Minnesota State (3-5) continues action today facing Glenville State (W. Va) at 10:15 a.m. EDT and Lake Erie (Pa.) at 12:30 p.m. EDT., both at the DiamondPlex in Winter Haven, Fla.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications