The Hannibal-LaGrange Lady Trojans must have had a crushing sense of deja vu against William Woods University senior starters MacKenzie Bowden and Becca Schemmer.
Bowden and Schemmer fashioned a pair of one-hit shutouts Friday as the No. 21 William Woods Lady Owls easily swept Hannibal-LaGrange 9-0 and 5-0 in their American Midwest Conference Tournament quarterfinal series at Backer Sports Complex.
The top-seeded Lady Owls (36-15) - winners of 10 in a row and 19 of their last 20 - now move on to a semifinal matchup against No. 4 seed Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University at noon Thursday at Columbia College. Freed-Hardeman (24-17) advanced with a 7-2, 7-2 sweep of No. 5 seed Williams Baptist (Ark.) College in quarterfinal play Friday.
William Woods swept Freed-Hardeman in an April 5 doubleheader in Fulton. The Lady Owls breezed to a 12-0, five-inning victory in the opener and a 4-2 win in the second game.
Baseball
William Woods 5
Benedictine-Springfield (Ill.) 3
Senior left fielder Zach Nichols hit a pair of home runs, including a three-run shot in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the Owls in front to stay in Friday night's AMC home victory.
Nichols also hit a solo shot in the fourth to tie the game at 2-all. He finished 2-for-2 with four runs batted in and two runs scored, and now has five homers on the season - three in the last four games.
William Woods University was able to survive six errors in extending its winning streak to a season-best seven games. The Owls were 34-9 overall and 18-7 in the American Midwest Conference entering Saturday's doubleheader against Benedictine (21-15, 15-10). Results were not available at press time.