BRANSON, Mo. - The Lincoln softball team went 2-2 at the Branson Bash on Friday and Saturday (March 6-7). Below are brief recaps of those contests.

Lincoln 6, Nebraska-Kearney 2
The Blue Tigers scored four runs in the top of the second and held on to beat the Lopers, 6-2, on Friday.

Lincoln (7-4) loaded the bags in the second inning when Faith Jaegers was issued a walk, Reese Smith singled into center field, and Paige Rees reached on balls. Ella Percival made it a 1-0 lead for the Blue Tigers with a base hit that plated Jaegers, then Hannah Heisler hit a bases-clearing double for a 4-0 Lincoln advantage.

Nebraska-Kearney () scored its only runs of the game in the bottom of the second on a two-run homer. Lincoln, meanwhile, added an insurance run in the top of the fifth, as Josie Stewart drove in Gracie Wright, who had previously reached b 6ase on a double. Stewart picked up another RBI in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly that scored Heisler.

LU held a 10-5 advantage in hitting, with Heisler, Jaegers and Smith each tallying two hits. Ann-Marie Simpson and Ella Percival also had hits and Jaedin Blankenship and Maddie Sechrest each struck out UNK batters. Blankenship earned the win in the circle. Stewart led the Blue Tigers with seven putouts and Percival and Smith each turned three assists.

Lincoln 6, Washburn 5
Simpson scored on a walk-off single hit by Stewart in the seventh inning and Lincoln beat Washburn, a team that was receiving votes in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II poll, 6-5 on Friday.

A single and an error allowed Washburn (23-5) to score a pair of runs in the top of the second inning, and neither team managed to push a run across the board until the fourth frame, when Wright scored on a sacrifice fly from Smith to cut the Ichabod lead in half. Washburn got that run back in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly of its own.

In the bottom half of the frame, TK Lawson hit a solo home run and Heisler scored on a single from Wright to tie the game at 3-3. Simpson came home on an error to put Lincoln on top for the first time in the contest, and Wright pushed the LU lead to 5-3 by scoring on a ground out from Stewart. The lead would not last for long, however, as WU tied the game in the sixth on a two-run double.

After forcing the Ichabods to go down 1-2-3 in the seventh, Simpson led the bottom of the frame off with a single. Wright laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance her to second. Two at-bats later, Stewart found a gap in the outfield to bring home Simpson and seal the victory for the Blue Tigers. Jaegers, Wright and Simpson each had two hits while Heisler, Stewart and Lawson had one apiece.

Sechrest pitched the final two innings and earned the win. Heisler recorded seven putouts, Stewart finished with four and Simpson was next with three. Percival turned two assists while Smith, Abby Pulliam and Danyel Heppner each had one.

Nebraska-Kearney 4, Lincoln 0
Lincoln's win streak came to a close on Saturday afternoon when Nebraska-Kearney won the rematch, 4-0.

Neither team scored in the first two innings, though the Blue Tigers had at least one base runner in each inning. The tie was finally broken in the third inning, when UNK brought in two runs on a base hit. The Lopers later added an RBI single in the fifth inning and drove in an unearned run in the seventh to cap the scoring.

Simpson, Stewart, Percival and Abi Jorgensen each had hits for the Blue Tigers while Pulliam struck our four Loper batters in a complete-game effort in the circle. Jaegers ended the game with five putouts and Stewart had four while Jorgensen, Wright and Heisler each finished with three. Stewart supplied two assists.

Truman State 6, Lincoln 1
Truman State scored runs in each of the first four innings and held on for a 6-1 victory over Lincoln on Saturday night.

Wright hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth to bring home Simpson for LU's only run of the game. Truman State (7-14), meanwhile, plated a pair of runs in both of the first two frames and also tacked on scores in the third and fourth innings.

Six different Blue Tigers had a hit: Percival, Heisler, Simpson, Smith, Stewart and Marlee Brown. Stewart led the LU defense with five putouts, Heisler provided four and Wright contributed three. Smith supplied three assists.

Lincoln travels to Pine Bluff, Ark. on Tuesday (March 10) to play a double-header against NCAA Division I opponent Arkansas-Pine Bluff. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. CDT.