Wiley Lowry is leading the Lady Raiders on offense and defense so far this season. Three Rivers College, in its Region XVI opener, split with North Central Missouri on Sunday, winning the opener 8-2 and losing the nightcap 5-4 Sunday at Rains Field. "We've had a little trouble with the big inning and we stayed away from that in Game 1," Three Rivers coach Jeff Null said. "We had one bad inning that cost us, or we'd be looking at a sweep." Lowry picked up her third win after pitching a completegame. Lowry (3-3) struck out five with six hits and two walks against her. "She gutted it out through the first couple innings and then she settled down," Null said. After allowing two runs in the first inning, Lowry didn't allow a runner to reach third base, and didn't allow multiple runners on base at any time after the second. She also connected for a solo home run in the fourth inning of the nightcap, her first home run of the season. Three Rivers' No. 1 pitcher is now tied with Morris for second on the team in batting average at .367. Lowry, who also had a double and nine RBIs for the season, is second in on-base percentage (.400) and fourth in slugging (.535). Sophomore Ally Hendricks drilled the scoreboard for her second home run of the season and finished 3 for 4 with four RBIs. Hendricks, who was 0 for 4 in the nightcap, is now batting .296 and leads the team in RBIs despite playing in 10 of 15 games. Her two-run shot in the third put Three Rivers ahead 5-4. Three Rivers (3-12, 1-1 Region XVI) leadoff hitter Randi Scruggs, who leads the team with a .500 average, went 3 for 4 in the opener and scored twice.

Courtney Slayton was 2 for 4 with three runs and an RBI, and MaKayla Lamphier was 2 for 4 with two RBIs. All three and Lowry had a double. Helped by four errors from North Central (5-3, 1-1 Region XVI), Three Rivers scored in four different innings and didn't trail after taking a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the first. The Lady Pirates played a clean nightcap while Three Rivers committed three errors. Tied at two going into the fifth inning, North Central pushed three runs across and held off a comeback in the seventh. North Central's top three batters in the lineup got hits to open the fifth inning. With two outs, the Lady Raiders committed an infield error that allowed two runs to score. The top four batters in the North Central lineup had seven of the team's eight hits and scored all five runs. The bottom three batters never reached base. Three Rivers stranded the tying run at third base in the seventh inning and the winning run at first. "I felt really good about it," Null said. "We just killed the ball that last inning. We had some shots." Morgan Ledure reached on an error and scored on Slayton's single to left. Lamphier followed with a hit up the middle to put runners on the corners, and Hendricks grounded out to end the game. Carleigh Burnett (0-6) pitched 5 2/3 innings in the loss. She gave up eight hits and two walks with five strikeouts. Two of the five runs against her were earned. Maci Coleman was perfect over 1 1/3 innings of relief. Lexi Morris went 3 for 4 and Slayton was 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Ledure scored twice, and Lamphier and Lowry each added a run.