The University of Illinois Springfield softball team swept two Minnesota schools on Saturday at the Five-State Classic in Emporia, Kan. The Prairie Stars won their fourth straight after victories over MSU Moorhead and Minnesota State.
 
UIS pitched a shutout for the first time this year against MSU Moorhead, winning 11-0. Kayana Diederich threw all five innings. She allowed just three hits and struck out three batters.
 
Offensively, UIS scored at least two runs in all four of its at-bats. Nine different players scored, six had RBI, and nine had hits. Jess Jacobs had a three-run homer in her lone at-bat in the game. Calla Wickenhauser had two hits and two runs, and Kelsie Burrows also scored twice. Evey Evans and Reagan Miles both had one run and one RBI.
 
The Prairie Stars had their best win of the season against Minnesota State. It defeated the team, which was receiving votes in the national poll, by a 2-1 margin.
 
Neither team scored until the top of the sixth when an error by Minnesota State got UIS started in the inning. Danielle Dennis followed with a RBI double, and Zoie Bowman, who pinch ran for Dennis, eventually scored what would be the game-deciding run. Minnesota State hit a solo homer with two outs in the seventh for its only run of the game, but the Prairie Stars got the next batter to ground out.
 
Miles allowed just one run in the game. She did her best work with runners on base, as she held Minnesota State to one-of-15 batting with runners on base.
 
UIS will look to finish the weekend's tournament with a perfect record when it faces Missouri Southern on Sunday.