ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The No. 16 Winona State softball swept its way through day one of the Apple Market Classic, claiming a 10-0 win in five innings over Central Missouri before scoring late and holding on for a 7-5 eight-inning win over No. 19 Northwest Missouri State Friday in St. Joseph, Missouri.

GAME ONE: WSU 10, Central Missouri 0 (5 inn.)

Hanna Lythberg threw a one-hitter and the Warriors broke out the bats in a nine-run second inning to cruise to a five-inning win over the Jennies.

WSU sent 14 batters to the plate in the big second inning. After a leadoff walk by Paige Keegan and a bunt single by Natalie Kalmes, Mariah Schultz picked up an RBI single to right field and a fielding error allowed Keegan to score to put the Warriors up 2-0. Allyson O'Herron followed up with an RBI bunt single to score Schultz, and after back-to-back walks from Lani Van Zyl and Shannon Nelson, Chelsey Rodenkirch came up with a three-run triple to right center field to clear the bases and break the game open with a 6-0 lead.

The Warriors weren't done in the inning, as a wild pitch scored Rodenkirch and WSU had a 7-0 advantage with an out still yet to be recorded. A single from Jamee Schleis led to a fielder's choice from McKenna Larsen – the first out of the inning – with WSU batting around, another set of back-to-back walks by Keegan and Kalmes led to a two-run single from Mariah Schultz for the 9-0 lead.

Larsen added an RBI single in the third inning to up the lead to 10-0, but WSU had more than enough run support for Lythberg, who gave up just one hit – a third inning single – in her complete game five-inning shutout. The senior struck out three batters and walked just one batter while retiring 15 of the 16 batters faced.

GAME TWO: WSU 7, Northwest Missouri State 5 (8 inn.)

WSU used another big inning – this time a five-run eighth – to earn the day one sweep with a 7-5 victory over the No. 19 Bearcats.

WSU scored first in game two as well, getting a 2 RBI base hit up the middle from Kalmes to score Rodenkirch and Schleis. The Warriors held the 2-0 lead until the bottom of the sixth, when the Bearcats knotted the score with a two-run home run to center field, but starter Alex Walker finished the inning with no further damage. Neither team scored in the seventh, with Lythberg coming in to relieve Walker.

With the international tiebreaker in effect, the Warriors took advantage as a single from Larsen allowed Rodenkirch – who was placed on second – to score on a fielding error by the left fielder to put WSU up 3-2. Keegan later picked up a two-out RBI single up the middle to score Larsen and later another error allowed Sam McLean to score to make it 5-2.

The winning runs ended up coming off the bat of the freshman Van Zyl, who smoked a two-run home run to center field to plate herself and Tayler Oberman to move ahead 7-2. They would prove to be important runs, as Northwest Missouri fought back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run of their own to make it 7-4 and a sac fly to cut the lead to 7-5, but Lythberg forced a groundout to end the game and protect the win.

Reed Karsten went 3-for-5 in the game, while Keegan went 3-for-4 and Van Zyl went 2-for-4 for the Warriors.

Lythberg (8-2) earned her second win of the day, pitching two innings while giving up five hits and two earned runs. Walker pitched six innings, scattering seven hits with two earned runs and a strikeout.

No. 16 Winona State (16-4) continues play in the Apple Market Classic Saturday with games against host Missouri Western and Central Oklahoma at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.