Larson homers twice but Monmouth takes pair from Vikings

Lawrence's Ceara Larson homered twice in the doubleheader with Monmouth.
Lawrence's Ceara Larson homered twice in the doubleheader with Monmouth.

MONMOUTH, Ill. -- The Monmouth College softball team took both games of Saturday's Midwest Conference doubleheader with Lawrence University.

The Scots won the opener 11-0 in five innings, and Monmouth rallied for a 7-5 win in the nightcap.

In the second game, Ceara Larson hit a pair of home runs and finished 2-for-4 with three runs batted in for the Vikings. It was the second two-homer game of the season for the rookie catcher. 

Rachel Urich went 2-for-3 and scored two runs for Lawrence (8-16, 2-6 MWC), and Amanda Karnatz was 2-for-4, scored a run and drove in a run.

Lawrence trailed 2-0 before scoring three times in the top of the third. Lexi Angemi drove in a run on a squeeze bunt, and Larson followed with a two-run blast to put the Vikings up 3-2.

The Vikings pushed the lead to 4-2 when Karnatz tripled to drive in Urich in the top of the fourth. Monmouth countered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 5-4 lead.

Lawrence came right back in the top of the fifth to tie it on Larson's lead-off homer. Monmouth rallied again in the bottom of the fifth to score twice and take the lead for good.

Liz Hippen pitched three innings of one-hit relief to get the win for Monmouth (17-11, 6-4). Emilia Jackson went the distance and took the loss.

Hippen allowed five hits over five innings to pick up the victory in the opener. She struck out four and walked one. Madeline MacLean allowed five earned runs over five innings and took the loss.

Monmouth jumped on the Vikings early by scoring four times in the first and six more times in the second. 

Kori Looker was 2-for-2 and Karnatz went 2-for-3 in the opener.