CONWAY, Ark. - Omaha softball (18-4) swept the competition in four games in the Milisa Moore and Shane Lamb Tournament as the Mavericks won two games each against host Central Arkansas and Illinois State, capped by a plus-13 scoring margin to end the event Saturday.
Sydney Thomason finished her weekend with three home runs in four games and is tied for the team in hits with
Marra Cramer at 24 knocks on the season.
Omaha softball faces Kansas in a road non-conference test before St. Thomas visits
Connie Claussen Field to kickoff Summit League action.
After going three-up, three down in each of the first two innings, Omaha exploded for a four-spot in the home half of the third en route to a run-rule victory over Illinois State, 9-1, in six innings. Erasing a 1-0 deficit,
Rylinn Groff got the scoring bonanza underway with an RBI single, plating home
Haley Wilwerding to even the score at one run apiece. A
Maggie O'Brien single through the right side scored R. Groff to give Omaha the lead at 2-1. Thomason capped the four-run inning with a two-run double to score O'Brien and Cramer.
Later in the sixth, Omaha crossed home five times to put the game in the books at an eight-run margin. Wilwerding started the rally with an RBI double down the left field line to score
Katherine Johnson. Another R. Groff base hit scored her second RBI of the day when Wilwerding scored to move the Mavericks' lead to 6-1. A Cramer double through the left side scored
Rylee White followed by Thomason's third RBI of the afternoon to score R. Groff. An
Ava Rongisch ground out RBI scored Cramer to end the ballgame for Omaha as the designated home team.
Omaha finished with 13 hits and no errors, the third most hits in a single game for Omaha this season. The Mavericks tallied four doubles against the Redbirds, the team's single-game high in 2025.
Alyson Edwards tossed all six defensive innings in the circle for her fourth win, moving to 4-0 in 2025. Edwards allowed only three hits and earned run in 21 batters faced, striking out five. This was Edwards' first complete game of the campaign.
Omaha continued its streak in the nightcap against the Sugar Bears as Omaha bested Central Arkansas 7-2.
Mike Heard's Mavericks erased an early 2-0 deficit which came via a two-run home run in the first. Omaha responded with a homer of its own, a three-run shot off the bat of Cramer, her team-leading eighth of the season, scoring R. Groff and White and put Omaha in front 3-2.
A third inning error by the Sugar Bears proved costly as White reached base on the mishap and Johnson and Thomason scored to push the Omaha advantage to 5-2.
R. Groff put a bow on the victory with a two-run double in the third to finish things off 7-2. Omaha allowed just two hits in the final four innings (all singles).
Maddia Groff picked up win number nine Saturday. The Omaha native threw 6.0 innings with nine punch outs before
Alexis Wiggins came in to finish things off. Wiggins retired all three batters she faced.
Wilwerding and R. Groff have now reached base safely in six-straight games, the longest active streak for the reigning Summit League champions.
Season tickets for home games at
Connie Claussen Field are on-sale now at
OMavs.com/Tix.
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