EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Shannon Murray and Jessica Demski combined to limit Grinnell College to only four hits as the Lawrence University softball team downed the Pioneers 8-0 on Saturday at the Midwest Conference Classic.
Murray tossed the first three innings, allowing two hits, striking out five and walking none, to get the win. Demski pitched the final three innings, allowed two hits, struck out two and didn’t walk a batter.
Alissa Geipel, Anna Wawiorka, Cory Paquette and Murray all had two hits for the Vikings, who piled up 12 hits against Grinnell starter Summer Wilke.
Lawrence took the lead with three runs in the second on two hits, but the Vikings got help in the form of three Grinnell errors in the frame. Lawrence added a run in the third to push the lead to 4-0 on Wawiorka’s RBI single.
The Vikings pulled away with three more runs in the fourth. Murray drove in a run with a bases-loaded groundout, Lawrence went up 7-0 when two more runs scored after an error on Wawiorka’s ground ball.
Lawrence pushed the margin to the eight-run rule when Wawiorka belted a run-scoring double in the sixth to score Geipel.
Lawrence wraps up play at the MWC Classic on Sunday by facing Monmouth College and Illinois College. Lawrence is now 2-2 for the event.