Complete Game Notes
Games #29-30: Lincoln (4-24, 1-11 MIAA) at Quincy (11-13)
Date: Wednesday, March 27 at 2:00 & 4:00 p.m. CT
Site: Mart Heinen Softball Complex in Quincy, Ill.
Live Stats: https://quhawks.com/sidearmstats/softball/
 
Games #31-32: Lincoln at Northwest Missouri (4-13, 0-6 MIAA)
Date: Friday, March 29 at 2:00 & 4:00 p.m. CT
Site: Bearcat Softball Field in Maryville, Mo.
Live Stats: https://bearcatsports.com/sidearmstats/softball/
 
Games #33-34: Lincoln at Missouri Western (17-13, 4-4 MIAA)
Date: Saturday, March 30 at 11:00 a.m. & 1:00 p.m. CT
Site: Griffon Softball Field in St. Joseph, Mo.
Live Stats: https://gogriffons.com/sidearmstats/softball/
 
THE LEAD OFF:  The Lincoln softball team heads on a six-game road trip this week, starting on Wednesday (March 27) with a 2:00 p.m. CDT double-header against Quincy in Quincy, Ill. After playing those two non-league contest, Lincoln will travel to Maryville, Mo. on Friday (March 29) to play Northwest Missouri in a twinbill. The Blue Tigers will close the weekend in St. Joseph, Mo. on Saturday (March 30) with an 11:00 a.m. CDT twinbill vs. Missouri Western. The NWMSU and MWSU games are MIAA contests for Lincoln, which is coming off a four-game homestand in which LU generated a lot of hits, but fell to Fort Hays State and Nebraska Kearney.
 
PREVIEWING THE BLUE TIGERS:  The Blue Tigers are batting .290 as a team, with Camryn Pryor leading the way with 35 hits and a .393 average. Rachael Balke has hit five homeruns and is batting .333 with 30 hits and team-highs in both RBI (20) and runs scored (17). Mykenzie Livesay (.319 average, 23 hits) and Emily Williams (.333, 20) are also having strong offensive seasons, and Jordan Lawson, an All-MIAA honorable mention a year ago, is hitting .363 with 33 hits and seven doubles. In the circle, Shannon Greene and Hannah Hennessy each have two wins and have combined for 69 strikeouts.
 
HEAD COACH CHRISTINE ENGBERS:  Engbers was named the head coach of the Blue Tigers in 2018 after a successful two-year run at Covenant, where she won 45 games and became the first coach to lead the Lady Scots to back-to-back years with winning records. Engbers, in her first season at Lincoln, was an All-American as a player at Covenant.
 
LAST TIME OUT:  Lincoln traveled to Liberty, Mo. to play William Jewell in a twinbill before hosting MIAA double-headers vs. Fort Hays State and Nebraska Kearney at LU Softball Field. Below are brief recaps of those contests:
 
Game 23: WJC 9, LU 5:  Rachael Balke hit a pair of homeruns and Tori Nienhueser had a three-run homer to put Lincoln up 5-0, but William Jewell scored the next nine runs to beat the Blue Tigers in the first game on Wednesday (March 20). Balke had three hits while Nienhueser had two.
 
Game 24: WJC 8, LU 5:  Rachael Balke and Emily Williams each hit homeruns, but a late LU rally fell just short as the Blue Tigers fell to William Jewell. Balke had three hits and three RBI, and four other Blue Tigers had multiple hits as LU tied William Jewell with 12 hits in the contest.
 
Game 25: FHSU 4, LU 2:  A homerun by Pryor pulled Lincoln to within two, but FHSU held on for a win in the opener on Friday (March 22). That was the second hit of the game for Pryor while Emily Williams had an RBI single.
 
Game 26: FHSU 7, LU 6:  An RBI single by Tori Nienhueser put Lincoln ahead, 5-4, but Fort Hays State capitalized on a pair of LU errors to take the lead in the fifth. Jordan Lawson had three hits and Camryn Pryor and Gabi McGinty each had a pair of hits while Shannon Greene struck out two.
 
Game 27: UNK 9, LU 8:  Five unanswered runs in the fourth and fifth frames to take an 8-6 lead, but a three-run homer in the sixth helped UNK win the opener on Saturday (March 23). Lincoln was led by Jordan Lawson with three hits and Gabi McGinty and Tori Nienhueser with two apiece.
 
Game 28: UNK 22, LU 13:  The game featured 35 combined runs on 34 hits, but Nebraska Kearney ended up on top in a seven-inning game in the night cap on Saturday. The Blue Tigers scored 10 runs in the second inning, six different Lincoln players had two hits, including Camryn Pryor, who also had three RBI. Bekah Kirker, Jordan Lawson, Rachael Balke, Mykenzie Livesay and Emily Williams each scored a pair of runs, and Livesay and Tori Nienhueser finished with two RBI apiece.
 
SCOUTING THE HAWKS:  Alex DeVaney has a 5-4 record in the circle for Quincy, which has a team ERA of 3.29. Quincy's batting average is .229, with Kay Bettendorf and Morgan Heckman each owning team-high averages of .316. Audrey Hermann, with a .275 average, is the only other Hawk batting over .250. Bettendorf leads QU with 25 hits while Heckman is next with 24.
 
SCOUTING THE BEARCATS:  Kaitlyn Weis is having an outstanding season, leading the team with 22 hits, 18 RBI, four RBI and a .431 average. Olivia Daugherty and Jaedra Moses each have 22 hits, with Daugherty batting .393 and Moses hitting .386. As a team, Northwest Missouri is batting .294, and owns an ERA of 5.76, while opposing pitchers have an ERA of 3.59. Regan Thompson leads NWMSU with two wins while Rachel Smith has a victory and 34 strikeouts.
 
SCOUTING THE GRIFFONS:  Morgan Frost leads Missouri Western with a .419 average and has 39 hits, 20 RBI, 11 doubles and 24 runs on the year. Gabi Carter, who is batting .387, has 36 hits while Brea Blanton, a .375 batter, has 24 hits. Next on the offensive list is Emma Hoffart with 33 hits and a .333 average. Missouri Western owns a team batting average of .302 and an ERA of 4.38, with Kali Hinds leading the Griffons with a 3.61 ERA, nine wins and 49 strikeouts.
 
ON DECK:  Lincoln is back at home on April 5 to play Missouri Southern at LU Softball Field in a 2:00 p.m. CDT double-header.