Record Run – Stolen sets single-game mark, closes in on career standard

OMAHA, NEB. – Morningside University continued to keep the heat on the Great Plains Athletic Conference's top two Monday, April 25.

Concluding a gauntlet span where they've played six games in the last four days, head coach Jessica Jones-Sitzmann's squad couldn't have looked more polished at College of Saint Mary's field. Fourteen runs over the final five innings in the opener closed out the host Flames 14-5 in six. Game two kept the Mustangs offense coming with five tallies in the first four frames en route to a 9-0 victory.

Headliners were many for Mside. Junior designated player Sydney Petersen (Omaha, Neb.), junior first baseman Taylor Richter (Rock Valley, Iowa), and senior third baseman Morgan Nixon (Omaha, Neb.) each bashed three hits in game one. Petersen and Nixon also homered, along with senior shortstop Lexie Stolen (Sioux City, Iowa). In the nightcap to support freshman pitcher Grace Buffington's (Gretna, Neb.) complete-game four-hit shutout, Stolen drove in five runs with four doubles, setting a new single-game program record for two baggers in a game. Sophomore outfielder Makenna Sidzyik (Omaha, Neb.) added a home run and two RBI.

The Mustangs, moving to 27-13 overall and 13-7 in the GPAC, moved within two games of Mount Marty University for second. They wind up the regular season Saturday, April 30, hosting Hastings College. Game time is 1 p.m. for Senior Day 2022 at Jensen Family Softball Complex. 

NOTES: Stolen is on the verge of career history, too. Her game one round-tripper put her career total at 37, just two from setting a new program record.