Fayette, Mo. - The No. 5 Central Methodist softball team broke the program record for single season wins with a doubleheader sweep of Evangel University Saturday afternoon as part of senior day at Cox Softball Complex.
With the win, CMU improves to 46-5 and 32-4 in the Heart while Evangel falls to 29-14 and 18-13 in conference play.
Central started the afternoon with a 10-0 shutout win over the Crusaders in game one. The Eagles started the day with three runs in the first and seven in the second.
The pitching did the rest as junior ace Keighlan Cronin tossed all five innings, giving up only one hit along with nine strikeouts. The nine K's put Cronin atop the all-time record for single season strikeouts in team history, with the previous record held by Chelsea Fuemmeler (211 in 2008).
The St. Charles, Mo. native now has recorded 220 strikeouts through 26 games this season.
Kelli Gorman led the offense with two hits and six RBI, with both hits being home runs including a grand slam in the bottom of the second inning. Morgan Willis also hit a solo home run in the first.
The second game was a thriller from start to finish as both sides remained deadlocked at 5-5 heading into the seventh inning. The game was to be decided in extra innings and ultimately a winner was decided in the 11th.
With the international tiebreaker in place, Kylie Avery was put at second base and moved to third after a ground out to the infield.
Willis provided the game winning hit with a single to right field, scoring Avery and giving CMU a 6-5 win in game two.
Willis and Micaela Harcrow finished the afternoon with three hits and two RBI apiece. Gorman collected two hits, both being doubles, while Adalia Sewell and Katelyn Kolb also recorded a hit.
Madison Love got the start in the circle for game two, tossing 6.1 innings with three strikeouts. Cronin earned her second win of the day after coming in relief for the final 4.2 innings of work, allowing no runs on not hits with four more strikeouts.
The Eagles will play their final regular season home games Sunday afternoon, hosting rival Missouri Valley College for a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Cox Softball Complex.
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