The Allen Red Devils hope to build momentum this week before getting into their softball conference schedule with doubleheaders against Missouri State West Plains and Southeast Community College on the schedule.
With a slate of four Jayhawk Conference games over the next two weeks, Allen looks to bounce back from a pair of losses to the nationally ranked Kirksville Eagles 12-8 and 6-3 during a doubleheader Saturday in Iola.
“We have positives to go off of going into this next week,” Allen coach Nicole Peters said. “We competed well. We just gave up (runs) and had a couple of miscues, but overall we did well.”
Both games of Saturday’s doubleheader were closer than the scoreboard indicated. In fact, the Red Devils built a lead on multiple occasions.
In the first game, a first-inning home run from sophomore outfielder Kaylee Spreer put Allen on the scoreboard, then a third-inning RBI single by infielder Bailee Campbell in the second inning tied the Eagles 2-2.
A fourth-inning homer by sophomore infielder Paxton Meyer gave the Red Devils their first of many leads, but they could not hold on in both situations.
Kicking off a slugfest in the fifth inning —after Kirksville scored twice to retake the lead — Allen responded with three of its own, sparked by a pair doubles by Campbell and freshman outfielder Casey Schaffer.
Schaffer reached home on a passed ball to push the Red Devils’ lead to 6-4.
Allen ended up on the losing end of the battle after Kirksville scored three runs in the sixth and five in the seventh to pull away 12-6.
Meyer trimmed the Eagles’ lead by a run with a seventh-inning RBI double, then Campbell scored on a passed ball.
Campbell ended the game tied with Meyer for the team lead in RBIs with two each while going three of three in the batter’s box.
Sophomore pitcher Camrynn Yardley took the loss while tallying three strikeouts.
The Red Devils jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the end of the fourth inning in game two.
A first-inning RBI grounder by sophomore first baseman Jena Hendrix put Allen on the scoreboard.
Catcher Makayla Hirschmann extended Allen’s lead in the second with an RBI single, but Kirksville flipped the script entirely with a five-run fifth. Another Hendrix RBI grounder made it a more manageable 5-3 deficit, but that was the last time the Red Devils touched the scoreboard.
