BENTONVILLE, ARK --- The Prairie Star softball team opened up the season in Bentonville, Arkansas at the UAM Quad-State Classic. In their first game of the 2016 campaign, UIS took on the University of Central Missouri, who were already seven games into their season. The Prairie Stars fell in their season opener 3-2 in extra innings, before suffering another one run defeat, 5-4 to the hands of Missouri Southern.

GAME ONE: UIS 2, CENTRAL MISSOURI 3
In the first inning, it didn't take long for the Prairie Stars to get their offense going, as three walks loaded the bases but with two outs, the Prairie Stars were unable to push across a run.

Head coach Shannon Nicholson sent freshman pitcher, Jaycee Craver out to the circle for her first collegiate start and it didn't take her long to settle in. Craver retired the first four batters she faced before working out of a mini-jam in the second inning.
In the top half of the third, the first two batters were retired for the Prairie Stars but Rachel Goff reached on a two-out error and advanced to second. Alexa McClaughry, a junior from McHenry, Illinois, then singled in the first run of the season, scoring Goff and putting the Prairie Stars up 1-0. Craver responded with a 1-2-3 fourth to keep the momentum.

The Prairie Stars took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh, when Central Missouri tied the game with a two-out solo home run.

In the top of the eighth --- with international rules in effect --- UIS took another lead as Madi Torry scored on a passed ball after Ashli King advanced her to third with a sacrifice bunt.

Up 2-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth, Central Missouri scored via a throwing error and then pushed the winning run across on a groundball to the short stop, ending the game 3-2.

Brittany Miller, a Washington, Illinois native, was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk while McClaughry tallied the lone RBI for the Prairie Stars. Haley Inman and Trisha Faulkner each stole a base as well. In the circle, Craver threw 7 1/3 innings in her debut, allowing three runs (one earned), on six hits, while striking out two.

GAME TWO: UIS 4, MISSOURI SOUTHERN 5
Much like the first game, UIS wasted no time getting the offense going, as Miller continued her big day by driving in BriAnna Edgar in the top of the first inning. Alexandria Smith took the circle for the Prairie Stars in game two and pitched a perfect first before surrendering two runs in the second inning as UIS committed two errors.

In the fourth, still down 2-1, McClaughry led off the inning with a double and scored on a Hannah Kain single to right field. UIS wasn't able to push another run across but tied the game at two after three and a half innings.

Missouri Southern regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth when the Prairie Stars again committed two errors in the inning, leading three runs, two of which were unearned.

In the following half inning, King led off with a single to right and advanced to third on consecutive ground balls by McClaughry and Molly Manietta. She then scored on another Kain single, her second RBI of the day.

In their final at-bat, Amanda Gosbeth led off the inning with a clutch double to left-center on a 1-2 count. Torry followed with a single, advancing Gosbeth to third and the Prairie Stars had the tying run on base with nobody out. However, three consecutive groundouts plated just one run as the tying run was left on third.

Kain led the way with a 2-for-2 game with a walk and two runs batted in. Smith started in the circle and went 4 2/3 innings, surrendering five runs (three earned) on seven hits, while striking out one and walking zero. Rachel Goff closed out the final four outs, striking out two and giving up just one hit.