Complete Game Notes
Games #39-40: Lincoln (4-34, 1-19 MIAA) at Truman State (19-10)
Date: Tuesday, April 9 at 2:00 p.m. & 4:00 p.m. CT
Site: Bulldog Softball Park in Kirksville, Mo.
Live Stats: https://trumanbulldogs.com/sidearmstats/softball/
 
Games #41-42: Lindenwood (20-14, 9-11 MIAA) at Lincoln
Date: Friday, April 12 at 2:00 p.m. & 4:00 p.m. CT
Site: LU Softball Field in Jefferson City, Mo.
Live Stats: https://lubluetigers.com/sidearmstats/softball/
 
Games #43-44: Lincoln at Lindenwood
Date: Saturday, April 13 at 12:00 p.m. & 2:00 p.m. CT
Site: Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo.
Live Stats: https://lindenwoodlions.com/sidearmstats/softball/
 
THE LEAD OFF:  The Lincoln softball team kicks off a busy week on Tuesday (April 9), as the Blue Tigers head to Kirksville, Mo. to play Truman State in a 2:00 p.m. CDT double-header. Lincoln will follow those non-MIAA games with its final home league twinbill of the season on Friday (April 12), as Lindenwood visits for a pair of games beginning at 2:00 p.m. CDT. That will be the first leg of a home-and-home with the Lady Lions, with the Blue Tigers traveling to St. Charles, Mo. for two games against Lindenwood that will not count in the conference standings. Truman State is on a three-game win streak while Lindenwood has won three of its past four games.
 
PREVIEWING THE BLUE TIGERS:  The Blue Tigers are batting .283 as a team, with Camryn Pryor leading the way with 43 hits and a .371 average. Rachael Balke has hit five home runs and is batting .317 with 36 hits and team-highs in both RBI (22) and runs scored (18). Mykenzie Livesay (.280 average, 26 hits) and Emily Williams (.317, 26) are also having strong offensive seasons, and Jordan Lawson, an All-MIAA honorable mention a year ago, is hitting .339 with 40 hits and eight doubles. In the circle, Shannon Greene has two victories while Trista Heavin boasts a 1.75 ERA.
 
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:  The Blue Tigers hosted a pair of MIAA double-headers last weekend, taking on Missouri Southern on Friday (April 5) and Pittsburg State on Saturday (April 6). Below are brief recaps of those contests:
 
Game 35: MSSU 10, LU 1:  Missouri Southern scored multiple runs in each of the first three frames en route to a series-opening victory over the Blue Tigers. Lincoln's run came in the fifth inning when Emily Williams hit her second home run of the year.
 
Game 36: MSSU 5, LU 2:  It was a tie game through six innings, but Missouri Southern scored three runs in the seventh to pull out the victory over the Blue Tigers. Rachael Balke and Mykenzie Livesay each had RBI hits, and Balke had two hits in the game to lead LU. Shannon Greene struck out a pair of Lion batters.
 
Game 37: PSU 10, LU 0:  Mykenzie Livesay, Tori Nienhueser and Emily Williams each had hits for Lincoln, but the Blue Tigers dropped the first game of their Senior Day double-header. Trista Heavin entered as a reliever and notched her first strikeout as a Blue Tiger while allowing no hits and no runs through two innings.
 
Game 38: PSU 8, LU 4:  After falling behind 3-0, the Blue Tigers rallied with an RBI single by Paige Parker in the second and a two-RBI double from Tori Nienhueser in the third to tie the ballgame.. Pittsburg State broke the tie with three runs in the fourth, however, and held Lincoln to just an RBI triple from Jordan Lawson the rest of the contest. Nienhueser had a pair of doubles while Lincoln matched the Gorillas with 12 total hits.
 
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS:  Truman State has an outstanding hitter in Christa Reisinger, a .568 batter who has 54 hits, 39 runs and 20 RBI on the season. Reisinger, who has 17 multi-base hits on the year, leads a Bulldog squad that is batting .304 as a team with five players hitting over .300. In the circle, Alyssa Hajduk and Lauren Dale each have nine victories while Rachael Kernich is 1-1 on the year.
 
SCOUTING THE LADY LIONS:  Nine players who have started at least 21 contests are batting better than .300, led by Taylor Bushman, a .382 hitter. Stormee Galka, who is batting .369, has a team-high 27 runs on 45 hits, while Courtney Klosinski has scored 21 runs on 28 hits. Inside the circle, Galka is 12-6 with a 3.36 ERA. Marina Esparza has four victories and Madison Corwell is next with three.
 
I'LL TAKE TWO:  The Blue Tigers have excelled at multi-base hits in 2019, as Lincoln is fifth in the MIAA in doubles with 58. Tori Nienhueser has 13 doubles, which is tied for the third-most of any player in the league, while Rachael Balke has hit five homeruns. As a team, Lincoln has 17 home runs, hit by nine different players.
 
RECORD-BREAKING PACE:  Jordan Lawson hit 17 doubles in 2018 to break the program single-season record for two-base hits. That record may only last a year, however, as Tori Nienhueser is on pace to break that mark this month. With 12 games remaining, Nienhueser has hit 13 doubles, including four last week.
 
PRYOR SUCCESS:  Camryn Pryor opened the 2019 season on a hot streak, recording a hit in each of the first 11 games of the year while reaching base in 15 straight contests. Pryor leads the Blue Tigers with 43 hits and a .371 average.
 
ON DECK:  Lincoln hosts a double-header vs. Drury next Tuesday (April 16), with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. CDT.