Lamar sports information

SAN ANTONIO – The Lamar Cardinals couldn’t take advantage of two solid pitching performances as they dropped a pair of games Friday on the first day of the UTSA Softball Tournament.

The Cardinals (1-4) fell to Missouri State 1-0 before losing to UTSA by a score of 4-2.

LU starter Laura Napoli pitched a complete game in the loss to Missouri State, allowing seven hits. She walked one and struck out two. Taylor Gruell pitched 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in the loss to UTSA.

Missouri State’s Steffany Dickerson limited LU to three hits, striking out nine. The Bears scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the sixth inning as Darian Frost’s two-out single scored Daphne Plummer.

Against UTSA, Gruell allowed just two hits while striking out two in relief of Anissa Rodriguez, who allowed four hits and four runs in 1 1/3 innings.

Kelly Meeuwsen got LU on the scoreboard with a solo home run in the fifth inning, while Savana Guidry added an RBI single in the sixth.

The Cardinals return to action Saturday with their final two games of the tourney. LU takes on Prairie View A&M at 9 a.m. Saturday before meeting the Kansas Jayhawks at 11:30 a.m. After the Kansas game, LU returns home to prepare to host fourth-ranked Washington in a doubleheader at 2 p.m. Monday.