UAM-MSSU | UAM-LU

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – The UAM Cotton Blossoms opened the 2012 Five-State Classic with a pair of wins.

UAM (4-4) defeated Missouri Southern in the opening game, 1-0, on a strong pitching performance from Katie Slaughter. The freshman out of Austin, Texas pitched the four-hit shutout, walking and striking out three in 29 batters faced.

Missouri Southern (1-8) kept the game scoreless until the bottom of the seventh. Maggie Sands got on with a single to left and strolled home five batters later as Brittany Eitel drew a bases-loaded walk to end the game.

The second game against Lincoln University (0-1) was an 11-2 affair, called after five innings. The Blossoms jumped out early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the second. Sands drove in Eitel and Sara Matthews with a single to center, and Jennifer Hickman drove in the second pair with a double to left scoring Sands and Sydney Tipton.

Kayla Jackson pitched the full five innings, giving up just two runs in the top of the third, the senior gave up four hits and three walks with four strikeouts in the five inning game. But the Blossoms had her back in the bottom of the fourth with a seven-run explosion.

Jackson drove in the first two runs with a single to center, Beth Johnson drilled a double to center to plate Jennifer Hickman. An error by the third baseman allowed Chasity Desselle to cross for the fourth run and Maggie Sands came up again, after leading off the inning, and hit a double to left that cleared three off the base paths.

The Classic gets in full swing today with 13 games to be played across five fields. UAM will take on Southwest Baptist at 10 a.m. and former GSC-rival North Alabama at 3 p.m., both games at Bentonville High School.