ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Pittsburg State softball team improved to 21-6 on the season with a 3-0 win over Augustana and an 11-3 win in five innings over Mary on Saturday (March 19) in the Apple Market Classic hosted by Missouri Western.

Despite frigid temperatures and snow flurries throughout the day, the Gorilla offense put up a solid effort and the defense held fast. In two games, the Pitt State hitters had 16 hits, while the defense committed only two errors and the pitcher gave up only one earned run on the day.

Game one was all Gorillas. Augustana had one hit in the second inning and only four base runners all game. Pitt State scored three runs on five hits.

The Gorillas got on the board immediately in the bottom of the first. Sierra Hall started the game with a one-out infield base hit. Katy Remy reached on a fielder's choice that put Hall out at second. Nicole Nease knocked a base hit to left center for her first hit of the day and moved Remy to third. A wild pitch brought Remy home to give Pitt State the early 1-0 lift.

The next two runs came in the fourth inning. Remy and Nease opened the inning with back-to-back base hits. Kylie Guthier moved them each up with a sacrifice bunt. A Jenna Bolton ground out to second scored Remy and an Augustana error allowed Nease to score for the final 3-0 score.

Emmie Robertson improved to 13-2 on the season with the win. She gave up only one hit, walked two and hit one batter. She fanned six Augie batters.

In game two, Pitt State scored its 11 runs on 11 hits and one Mary error. Mary scored three runs on eight hits and two Gorilla errors. Hall was 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Remy was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI and she was hit twice. Nease was 1-for-1 with a three run bomb and a walk. Guthier was 2-for-2 with a grand slam.

Pitt State scored its first five runs in the first. The first four came in off Guthier's grand slam. The fifth came as Bolton scored on an Alex Perez double.

All three Pitt State runs in the second came from Nease's three-run homer.

Mary got two runs back, one in each the second and third innings.

Pitt State went up 11-2 in the top of the fifth. Jordan Bradshaw started the inning with a base hit to right. She moved to second on an Ashton Pratt sacrifice. Back-to-back base hits by Hall and Remy scored Bradshaw. Tiara Ewy reached on an error that allowed Hall to score for the 10th run of the game that would put Pitt State up by eight. Ewy advanced to second on a passed ball and to third on a fielder's choice that left everyone safe and the bases loaded. A wild pitch brought Ewy in from third for the insurance run.

The Gorillas would need that insurance run as Mary scored one more run in the bottom of the fifth to make the final scored 11-3.

Morgan Myers earned her eighth win of the season. Only one of the three runs she gave up was earned. She walked only one batter and struck out seven.

Pitt State will wrap up Apple Market Classic play on Sunday against Sioux Falls at 11 a.m. and Northern State at 3 p.m. Games have been pushed back two hours from their previously schedule times due to expected cold temperatures overnight.