Three of the 10 runs scored by the Lady Vikings in the fourth inning against Iowa Wesleyan crossed on junior Jamie "Willie" Wilson's homer. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge]

SPRINGFIELD -- The Missouri Valley College softball team bounced back from their season-opening setbacks three days earlier to sweep all three of its games Saturday in the Evangel Show-Me Tournament at Springfield.

The Lady Vikings had to come from behind all three games, although were only challenged in the finale. In the process, they smashed five homers and allowed only one earned run in 19 innings pitched.

Iowa Wesleyan (1-6) scored on an error in the top of the second inning, but that was all it would get during Valley's 12-1, five-inning victory. A double by junior Suzanne Horine tied the contest in the bottom half of the frame and the Lady Vikings went ahead when junior Jamie Wilson singled and scored in the third.

Valley put the game away with 10 runs in the fourth, three coming in on Wilson's homer.

Sophomore Sydney Kaneshiro hit a two-run double and scored on Horine's double. Juniors Kristine Escujuri, Lyndsey Stapp and Lucy Sammons had RBI singles during the spree.

Junior Alana Bentz allowed only four hits and no earned runs to pick up her first win for Valley.

The Lady Vikings didn't have any big explosions during their 9-2 win over St. Mary (Kan.), but did scored often. The Spires (0-1) tallied twice on senior Heather Ashman's first-inning double, but were shut out the rest of the way by sophomore Tatum Hathcock.

Kaneshiro tied the game with a two-run single in the top of the second and junior Heather Sliger gave Valley the lead with a two-run shot in the third. A two-out error gave Stapp the chance to plate a pair of runs with a double in the sixth and the Lady Vikings capped off the victory with three in the seventh -- two coming in on junior Kimberly Fuller's double.

The only contest in which Valley scored first was the closest one it came to losing, a 5-4 decision over York (Neb.). Escujuri singled and scored on an error and sophomore Sara Irminger was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded as the Lady Vikings took a 2-0 lead in the third.

The Lady Panthers (2-1) rallied with four runs in the fourth on doubles by senior Tawny Bales and junior Laura Crowson, followed by sophomore Brandi Graven's two-run single.

That would be it for York's bats, Hathcock finishing with three goose-egg frames. Valley caught up in the fifth when junior Esperanza Reyes and Fuller cleared the left-field fence with solo homers, with Horine's lead-off blast in the sixth providing the game-winning run.

Escujuri had hits in each game for the Lady Vikings (3-2), who head out to Arizona on Sunday for the week-long Tucson Invitational.