Morningside rode the no-hit pitching of Aubrey Voboril and Rachel Henks to clinch at least a share of the GPAC softball championship. Photo / Kevin Pottebaum

Nationally ranked Morningside rode the no-hit pitching of Aubrey Voboril and Rachel Henks to clinch at least a share of the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) regular season softball championship when the Mustangs swept Dordt 9-0 and 8-0 in a pair of abbreviated five-inning contests on Monday in Sioux City.

Voboril pitched a perfect game in the opener and Henks twirled a no-hitter in the nightcap.

Morningside, ranked 14th in the most recent NAIA Top 25 Poll, climbed to 38-7 on the season, including a 17-2 mark in the GPAC for a three-game lead over Doane (13-4) atop the league standings. The Mustangs need one more GPAC victory or one more Doane conference loss to win the title outright.

Dordt’s hitters never had a chance against the Mustangs’ dynamic duo of Voboril and Henks. In fact, the Defenders’ first 21 batters of the doubleheader were all retired before Jordan Harmelink worked Henks for a walk to lead off the third inning of the nightcap. The Defenders’ only other baserunner came in the fourth inning when Samantha Johnson reached on an error.

Voboril (18-2) struck out eight of the Defenders’ 15 batters in her perfect game performance, while Henks (16-4) walked one and struck out five in her no-hitter.

Henks, who had a no-hit bid foiled by an infield single with two outs in the seventh inning when she shut out Grace 4-0 in her previous outing, has allowed only one hit over her last 13.2 innings pitched.

The Mustangs’ no-hitters overshadowed a brilliant offensive display by third baseman Abby Conner, who went four-for-five with two triples, two home runs, and eight RBIs in the two games. Conner went two-for-two with two triples and three RBIs in the opener and went two-for-three with two home runs and five RBIs in the nightcap.

Morningside led wire-to-wire in the opener after Elin Landgren tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Conner in the first inning.

The Mustangs added another run in the second inning before they broke the game open with a four-run third inning that featured a two-run double by Anna Milone and RBI singles by Allie Martinez and Morgan Fogelman.

Conner slugged a two-run triple down the right field line and eventually scored on a wild pitch when the Mustangs capped their scoring with three runs in the fourth.

Aside from Conner’s two triples, the Mustangs also had multiple hit performances in the opener from Landgren with a triple and single and Fogelman and Emilee Dorpinghaus, each with two singles.

Dordt pitcher C.J. VanDerZwaag held the Mustangs scoreless for the first two innings of the nightcap before the hosts erupted for four runs in the bottom of the third on back-to-back home runs by Conner and Martinez. Conner’s blast came with two runners aboard after Moriah Bohlmann had reached on an error and Landgren had an infield single.

The Mustangs had another four-run uprising in the fourth inning when Conner blasted a two-run homer and Bohlmann had a RBI double.

Conner paced the Mustangs’ second game offensive attack with her two home runs, while Landgren supplied a pair of singles.

Morningside will host Dakota State in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday.

Game One Box

Game Two Box