KANSAS CITY, MO --- The Prairie Stars shutout the Hawks 2-0 in the series opener behind the dominant right arm of Alexandria Smith. The senior threw a complete game to pick up her eighth win of the season, allowing just four hits and striking out five. The Prairie Stars fell in the back end of the double header 6-1, and now need to sweep William Jewell on the final day of the regular season to make their third straight GLVC tournament.

GAME ONE: ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 2, ROCKHURST 0
The Prairie Stars got on the board early, scoring a run in the second inning, utilizing a leadoff error by the Hawks catcher. After reaching via the error, Amanda Gosbeth stole second and third, setting up a bunt single from Alexa McClaughry, scoring Gosbeth to take the lead.

On the other side of the ball, Smith struck out the side in the first and then retired nine of the first ten batters she faced to hold onto the lead. In the fourth, Smith allowed a leadoff single, then struck out back-to-back batters and retired another on a groundout to end the inning.

Gosbeth started another rally in the seventh, hitting a single through the left side before stealing her third and fourth bases of the game to again put herself at third. She then came into score on an error from the third baseman as UIS took a 2-0 lead.

Smith allowed a harmless single in the seventh en route to her eighth win of the year, giving UIS a crucial first win of the weekend.

GAME TWO: ROCKHURST 6, ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 1
The long ball was key in the second game as four times the ball left the park, three for the Hawks and once for UIS. A three-run blast for Rockhurst gave the Hawks the lead in the third before a two-run shot pushed the lead to five and then a solo shot put the score at 6-0 after five.

Brittany Miller put the Prairie Stasr on the board with a solo shot in the sixth, her eighth of the season.
Craver didn't have her best stuff on this day, taking just her second loss in her last nine outings. The freshman threw four innings, surrendering five runs on six hits and falling to 14-12 on the season.

Gosbeth swiped five bags on the day, four in the first game and one in the second, while Miller collected two hits in the back end of the double header. Along with her solo shot, Miller also added a double, giving her 18 extra base hits this season. Gosbeth now has 19 steals on the year in 20 attempts.

NEED TO KNOW
Due to the GLVC tie-breaker, the Prairie Stars need to sweep William Jewell in order to make the conference tournament. Currently, UIS is tied with the Cardinals for the final playoff spot but the tiebreaker is the teams record against teams in the conference tournament, which the Prairie Stars are 0-14 in that scenario while the Cardinals are 4-10.