Kataleena Hunt hit a solo home run to lead off the ninth inning to lift the Culver-Stockton softball team to a 7-6 victory and a split of its doubleheader with Mount Mercy University Sunday afternoon at Himsl Field. The Mustangs won the first game 9-0 in six innings.

Hunt also had a say in tying the game in the sixth inning.

Trailing 6-5, Lauren Ferguson led off the sixth inning with a single through the hole between first and second base.

After Payton Todd popped out for the first out, Hunt hit a drive toward right field. The Mustang right-fielder slipped as she tracked the ball and it ended up turning into a RBI triple for Hunt.

The Wildcats got a bad break as the next hitter, Sophie Meyer, hit a line drive that MMU pitcher Ava Hahn knocked down with her glove in a self-defense move. Hunt was unable to score on the play and then a strikeout throw them out double play ended the inning when Meyer was cut down at second base.

Until Hunt's heroics in the late innings, it appeared the Wildcat defense would be their demise in both games.

C-SC took a 5-1 lead with a two-run double from Meyer in the second inning, and then added three more in the third inning hen Alecki Ulu drove home two runs with a single and Ferguson tripled home Ulu.

However, the Wildcat defense, which committed six errors in the doubleheader, including four in Sunday's second game, gave the game back to the Mustangs.

Mount Mercy scored an unearned run in the first inning as C-SC committed two errors in the inning. The Mustangs would take a 6-5 lead in the fourth inning with a five-run inning as the hosts committed two more errors and allowed four unearned runs to score in the frame.

Ferguson led the offensive attack with three hits in four at-bats followed by Ulu, Hunt and Meyer who all had two hits and two runs batted in each.

Cabria Childers, who started the first game, pitched all nine innings to earn the victory in the circle. Childers scattered seven hits, walked two and struck out two to improve to 12-9 on the season.

In the opener, the Wildcats were limited to four hits, all singles, as the Wildcats were shutout. Ulu and Samantha Vetter registered two hits each for the Wildcats.

C-SC is scheduled to return to play Monday, April 13, against Clarke University at Himsl Field in a makeup from Saturday's postponement. Game time for the first game is slated for 1 p.m.