Annabelle Gerhardt-Hobbs slugged a home run and Piper Dishman threw a five-inning shutout, and Republic opened the Springfield Invitational softball tournament with a 4-0 win over Columbia Battle Friday morning. Gerhardt-Hobbs had two base hits and Jenna Belcher drove in two runs for Republic.
Dishman struck out eight in five innings, allowing just two base hits, to pick up the win.
