Game one | Game two | Season stats

PITTSBURG, Kan. --  The SBU softball Bearcats gained a split in Monday's MIAA action at Pittsburg State. The Bearcats were just one out away from securing their first MIAA win in the opener, but the Gorillas rallied with two in the seventh for a 7-6 victory. In the second game, the Bearcats used a season high nine-run fourth inning on their way to an 11-7 win.

First basemen Nina Amaro-Garcia homered twice in the first game, including a solo shot to lead off the seventh that gave SBU a 6-5 lead. Amaro-Garcia went 3-for-4 and scored three times with three RBI. She scored in the second on a base hit by Stacie Davis. After Sarah Brison doubled in the third, Amaro-Garcia sent her first blast of the day to right field to put SBU up 3-0.

PSU took the lead with a single run in the fourth and four more in the fifth. In the sixth, the Bearcats tied the game when Krysta Baderdeen doubled to score Davis. Baderdeen later scored on a groundout by BreAnn Proctor. SBU took the lead on Amaro-Garcia leadoff blast in the seventh, but Pitt State rallied with two outs in the seventh for the win.

In the nightcap, Amaro-Garcia and Baderdeen provided the big bats. Amaro-Garcia went 2-for-2 with three runs and three more RBI while Baderdeen was 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. With PSU leading 3-1 in the fourth, the Bearcats erupted for nine runs as they sent 12 batters to the plate. Amaro-Garcia doubled twice in the inning while Baderdeen singled and later hit a three-run homer. Brison, Stephanie Sechler, and Davis all had RBI hits during the inning.

Pitt State (14-15-1, 1-5 MIAA) scored four times in the sixth while SBU added a run in the seventh. Brison and Proctor also had two hits in the second game as SBU scored 11 runs on 11 hits.

The nine-run inning by SBU surpassed their previous season high of an eight-run inning at East Central on March 6.

SBU (12-18, 1-5 MIAA) returns to action Tuesday when they host Drury beginning at 2 p.m. from the SBU softball field. The Bearcats and Panthers split a doubleheader in Springfield on March 23.