COLUMBUS, Miss. – Mississippi University for Women's softball team gave its faithful a mixed bag in its doubleheader non-conference sweep of Hendrix College. The Owls (13-7) won the close opener, 2-1, before blanking the Warriors (3-14) by a much more comfortable margin, 7-0, in the second game of the day at Don Usher Field.
 
The first game was a classic pitcher's duel between HC's Ashlynn Fowler and MUW's Rylie Grisham during the bulk of the contest. Fowler went 6.0 innings, permitted three hits and one earned run.
 
The Owls' lone dent against Fowler came in the fourth inning after Emilee Slade (2-4) led off with a single and stole second. Then, with one out, all-American Alysa Newman (1-3) stroked a double to right-centerfield that plated Slade with the game's first run.
 
For her part, Grisham cruised through 5.0 innings, scattering four hits and striking out three Warriors (walking just one). Grisham was lifted after the fifth in lieu of Bailey McClellan, who was looking to earn her first save. McClellan got through the sixth unscathed, but an unearned run for Hendrix in the seventh knotted the game at 1-1 and removed Grisham from the decision.
 
That set the stage for MUW to tally its third-consecutive win by a walkoff. The W's Reagan Newell (1-3) was first to face Hendrix reliever Emma Salis and promptly greeted her with a double down the leftfield line.
 
MUW eventually loaded the bases, with two out and Slade at the plate. The Owls' catcher flared a single into left that plated Newell with the winning run, 2-1.
 
As thrilling as the first game proved to be, game two was about as suspenseful as guessing the title of a Sylvester Stallone movie: just put a Roman numeral after the word "Rocky" or "Rambo".
 
MUW led 3-0 after one, 5-0 after for and 7-0 after five innings. That's because senior Avery Byerley notched her first shutout of the season, allowing six hits (and just one for extra bases) over her 7.0 innings of work.
 
Conversely, of MUW's 11 hits, four were doubles. Every batter for The W had at least one hit. Newell (2-3) and Newman (2-4) had the Owls' multi-hit games. Taylor Palmer (1-3) had two runs batted in.
 
MUW will host its final pre-St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) tune-up on Sunday (March 24) with a doubleheader versus LaGrange College at 12 p.m. at Don Usher Field. SLIAC play begins March 30.