Taylor Hodges, Sports Information Director

HANNIBAL, Mo. – The Lady Lions softball team (19-8, 11-5 AMC) split its road series with Hannibal-LaGrange (16-12, 8-4 AMC) on Friday afternoon, falling 5-4 late in game one, but rallying to win 4-3 in game two.

In the second game of the double-header, the Trojans took an early 2-0 lead, but the Lady Lions were able to bounce back, scoring one run in the second inning and three in the third. A solo home run by Allie Mitchell highlighted the second inning, as well as stellar pitching from freshman Emily Bradford.

Bradford went the complete game, and really came on strong after surrendering the two runs. She struck out four batters while only conceding one walk in the contest.

In game one, it was the visitors who got off to the hot start, taking a commanding 3-0 lead within the first four innings.

It was 2-0 after the first inning when the Lady Lions loaded the bases up, allowing Morgan Crawford to drive in Brittan Jarrell and Kaylyn Graham with two outs.

Freed-Hardeman scored one more run in the top of the fourth when Crawford brought in her third RBI of the game after hitting a single to center field, plating Mitchell.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Trojans made their rally, scoring three runs to tie the game. After a scoreless sixth inning, the Lady Lions were able to score a go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning when Jarrell scored her second run of the game off the bat of Annalise Jarnagin, who doubled to left-center.

The Trojans, though, were able to score two runs in the bottom half of the final inning on a two-run single to end the game.

The Lady Lions travel to Columbia to take on the Cougars on Saturday in the American Midwest Conference Game of the Week. The double-header is set to start at 1 p.m.