JACKSON, Tenn. – The Mississippi University for Women softball team lost twice in its final road trip of the 2022 regular season at Lane College. The Owls (13-17) fell to the NCAA Division II Dragons (24-16), 6-3 and 4-1, after leading in both contests until the sixth inning.
 
 "I am really proud of how the ladies battled," The W Head Coach Buddy Foster said. "We had just one practice coming off of a long break and were facing a very good Division II team on their home field. We were, literally, two innings away from pulling off a pair of big upsets.
 
"You have to give Lane credit for two big comebacks. At the same time, I don't want our team to hang its head; they did so much well and we can build on that."
 
Both setbacks were eerily similar in how they played out, unfortunately for MUW.
 
The Owls had an auspicious start to the afternoon when – in their very first at-bats – the team produced a pair of runs. With two out in the first inning of game one, Jessica Deming laced a single and then stole second to get into scoring position with designated player Rylie Grisham at the plate. And, as it turned out, Deming's stolen base – while keeping her atop the MUW stats in that category with 15 – was unnecessary when Grisham slugged her team-leading third home run of the season over the left-centerfield fence to make it 2-0.
 
In The W third, Riley Phillips had a one-out single and stole second. With two down, Deming singled up the middle to plate Phillips and up the Owls' advantage to 3-0.
 
That score stood until the sixth inning, when the Dragons exploded for six runs and then held off the Owls in the seventh for the win.
 
In game one, Deming was 2-for-2, with a run, a walk and a run batted in. Grisham was also 2-for-2. Kaitlyn Parrish took the loss from the circle.
 
In the second game, as legendary baseball orator Yogi Berra once said, it was "deja vu all over again" for MUW.
 
After three scoreless innings, MUW broke through in the fourth. The Owls got all three of their hits for the entire game in that inning, and all in succession. Megan Cummins singled to left to open matters, followed by an infield single off the bat of Phillips and a single up the middle by Grisham that loaded the bases. That set the stage for a sacrifice fly RBI by catcher Ashton Farnell. Farnell's hit may have made her team happy, but MUW ended the at-bats clinging to a precarious, 1-0, lead when the Owls failed to add any more runs.
 
The sixth inning once again proved The W's undoing. Lane tallied four times in its half of the frame and once again turned away MUW in the seventh to preserve its win.
 
Amelia Stalter was charged with the loss. The senior struck out seven Dragons, while walking none.