Sweet Springs sweeps at Smithton

SMITHTON -- The Sweet Springs baseball and softball teams both won non-conference games Wednesday at Smithton in fairly comfortable manners.

The Greyhounds jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the baseball contest, winding up with a 15-9 victory. Junior Billy Martin had an RBI double and sophomore David Hall and junior Aaron Schlatweiler knocked in runs with singles during the opening stanza.

The Tigers answered with three runs on four walks and a catcher's interference penalty, closing the margin to 6-4 in the fourth.

However, Sweet Springs (2-1) scored nine runs during the final three frames, junior Zach Thomas delivering a three-run homer in the fifth and two-run single in the seventh.

What Smithton (0-2) provided in response was five runs on three hits -- including sophomore Austin Anderson's two-run, two out single -- in the sixth, getting as close as 11-9 before the 'Hounds put it out of reach.

Junior Kathleen Tyler allowed only four hits and one earned run, while striking out 11 batters, during Sweet Springs' 13-3 win over the Lady Tigers (0-1).

Tyler knocked in three runs, two with a two-out single in the fourth inning to give the Lady 'Hounds (3-1) a 4-0 lead. They added seven runs on five hits in the fifth and sixth innings and capped off the spree with freshman Brittany Higgins' two-run homer in the seventh.

Junior Kristin Jones had three hits, scored twice and knocked in a pair of runs -- while Tyler and Higgins both had three RBIs and senior Stephanie Krause tallied three runs.