MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – The Wichita State softball team won 2-0 win over Villanova, and lost 5-2 to UAB to split their Saturday portion of the EMU Madeira Beach Invitational at the Madeira Beach Sports Complex. With the win and loss, the Shockers are now 7-6.

Game 1: Wichita State 2, Villanova 0

Jenni Brooks and Katie Malone combined for a four-hit shutout. As Brooks (3-3) pitched six innings and gave up just three hits, two walks and struck out three to pick up her third win of the season, Malone pitched the seventh and gave up a hit while striking out two to earn her first save of the season.

Kate Poppe (0-2) pitched all six innings. She allowed two runs (both earned) on five hits with three walks, and three strikeouts.

Brittany Fortner was the only Shocker to earn two hits against Villanova. Cacy Williams, Liz Broyles, and Ashley Johnson were the other Shockers to record hits. Williams and Broyles' only hits of the game became the two RBI that put the Shockers on top.

Natalia Segovia was 2-3 to lead the Wildcat offense.

The Wildcats had their first chance to score during the top of the second when Sierra McDonnell stole third and a Kelli Spring putout advanced Dana Morris to second with one out. Brooks forced a ground-out to Mackenzie Wright and struck out Poppe to get out of the inning unharmed.

During the bottom of the third, A Spring sacrifice bunt advanced Johnson to second and an intentional walk of Williams (the Shockers' first intentional walk of the season) set up a runners on first and second situation with two outs. Poppe then struck out Melanie Jaegers to end the Shocker threat and leave two on-base.

In the bottom of the fourth, Wichita State had their second scoring chance in as many innings when Macklin Hitz hit a sacrifice bunt to move Fortner to second with just one out. A Wright grounder to second then advanced Fortner to third. However, Poppe escaped the bottom of the fourth with a first-pitch Broyles pop-out to Brittany Husk.

In the top of the fifth with no outs, Wright threw out Poppe in a sacrifice bunt attempt and seconds later, Williams threw out Aheshia Ayers as she was attempting to advance to third. Immediately, Hathaway doubled to deep center to give the Wildcats another push to score the score first run of the game. Moments later, Brooks forced Lauren Herschberg to fly out to Fortner while not allowing any runs.

With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Williams hit a RBI-double, scoring Johnson all the way from first to give the Shockers a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the sixth.

Broyles hit a RBI-single that bounced off the third base bag with two outs and a full count, extending the Shocker lead to 2-0 as Fortner scored from third.

Malone pitched in relief to pick up the save for the Shockers, but Husk was hit by a pitch and Segovia singled to shallow right field to put the tying run at first with no outs. Poppe struck out with a full count to bring the Shockers within two outs of the win. A passed ball during the Tianah Hathaway at bat (the next batter after Poppe) moved Husk and Segovia to third with one out. Hathaway then struck out looking, and Herschberg popped out to Williams to give the Shocks the victory.

Game 2: UAB 5, Wichita State 2

Katie Malone (2-2) took the loss. She went 5.2 innings, allowed five runs (four earned) on 12 hits, walked two and struck out one.

Madison Hir (2-0) picked up her second win of the season. She pitched all seven innings, allowing two runs (none earned) on four hits, allowing a walk and three strikeouts.

Liz Broyles went 1-3 with both of the Shocker RBI. Amy Dennis of UAB was 2-3 with two RBI.

UAB began the scoring during the Shockers/Blazers matchup with an Amy Dennis solo home run to deep left-center during the bottom of the second, putting the Blazers up 1-0.

Wichita State had a run-scoring chance with runners on second and third with two outs during the top of the third. Jaegers then hit a soft-ground ball to UAB catcher JoJo Fallen, who threw the ball to Sara Beth Williamson to record the final out of the top of the third without the Shockers scoring any runs.

UAB threatened with runners on second and third with Dennis up at the plate. Dennis hit a RBI-single to shallow right, and advanced to second on the throw. This scored Britt and Williamson to go up 3-0 over the Shockers through three innings.

During the top of the fifth, the Shockers had runners on first (Ashley Johnson) and second (Erin Carney) with no outs, and runners on second (Johnson) and third (Carney) with two outs. Jaegers grounded out to second to end the Shockers rally without any runs on the board.

In the top of the sixth, the Shockers had Fortner on third and Greenlee (pinch-running at second for Macklin Hitz) at second with one out. Broyles hit a two-RBI single that barely passed between Caitlin Attfield's legs into left, scoring both Fortner and Greenlee to cut the Blazer lead to 3-2 after the top half of the sixth inning.

UAB scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth when Fallon singled to center, scoring both Attfield and Davis to give themselves their second three-run lead of the game at 5-2 through six innings. This later became the final score and caused the Shockers to split their Saturday portion of the EMU Madeira Beach Invitational.

The Shockers finish play at the EMU Madeira Beach Invitational when they face Texas State on Sunday morning at 9 a.m.

-WICHITA STATE-