Kansas City Hits Four Homeruns in Victory over Missouri State

Tuesday, March 30

Springfield, MO

5:00 PM

Kansas City

15-11

Missouri State University

16-10

Kansas City

Missouri State

Kansas City Hits Four Homeruns in Victory over Missouri State

3/30/2021 9:09:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Final Box

Willis, Hilbrenner, Vonfeldt, and Lombardini all hit homeruns for the Roos

Kansas City, MO. – Kansas City (15-11) bounced back against Missouri State (16-10) in a homerun derby that led to an 8-3 win for the Roos. A seventh inning rally put the Roos over a tough Bears team that sits at the top of the Missouri Valley Conference. Four homeruns in the game gave KC their first win over Missouri State in their last eleven head-to-heads.

"Missouri State is a very good team," Head Coach Kerry Shaw said. "The have a lineage of success and play in a very tough conference. It is big for our program to continue to compete with these local powerhouses so that people see Kansas City Roos Softball as a great destination to play softball at the next level."

Missouri State started their offensive pursuit early, driving the first pitch of the game over the fence to secure the early lead. Kansas City took that as a challenge to match their power and certainly executed.

"We have been struggling swinging with intent," Shaw said. "We haven't had a plan at the plate in our past few games. I feel like that changed tonight after we talked about our first few lull at-bats."

Great baserunning by Alexis D'Ambrosio gave KC the tying run in the top of the third after she got the Roos' first hit of the day. Camryn Ramsey laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runner and ended up on first after an error. D'Ambrosio tagged up on a ball driven to centerfield by Kathrine Karnatz and ended up scoring on a wild pitch.

Faith Willis drove her first homerun of the season well beyond the left field wall to give the Roos the lead in the top of the fifth. The very next inning, Kloe Hilbrenner hit Kansas City's second homerun of the evening and her second on the season to extend the lead to 3-1.

"Our hitters need to realize they are good hitters and pick their pitch," Shaw said. "We started doing that tonight."

The Roos' seventh inning rally began with a Willis walk, followed by another D'Ambrosio single. Katelyn Garcia entered the game and laid down a sac bunt to move the runners into scoring position for Katherine Karnatz. Karnatz drove a double to right-center that scored two and she scored later that series on an errant throw. Ally Vonfeldt and Lia Lombardini finished the final inning with solo homeruns that sealed off the victory.

"Mia needed to battle and finish the full game," Shaw said. "She needed a positive outcome after a tough weekend."

Kansas City's defense was also impressive to back up their pitcher Mia Hoveland. The Roos rolled double plays, threw out runners stealing, and had great relays from the outfield to throw out runners trying to take extra bases. Hoveland pitched the full game, striking out five and giving up ten hits to the Bears.

"We are going to have to keep building off this hitting to climb back in the standings in The Summit League this weekend," Shaw said.

The Roos return home to take on North Dakota State in a four-game conference series this weekend. First pitch is scheduled for Friday at noon with a second game to follow. Another double-header on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. will conclude the series against the Bison.