MANKATO, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Softball team qualified for the UMAC Postseason Tournament by grabbing the #3 seed in the UMAC with a fantastic conference record of 16-5 in the regular season. On Thursday, the Eagles opened the conference tournament in Mankato (the #1 seed Bethany Lutheran is hosting the tournament) with a game against #2 Wisconsin-Superior. Despite trailing the Yellowjackets by a game in the regular season standings, the Eagles defeated them twice out of three games in the regular season. UW-Superior evened the season series at two wins apiece by defeating the Eagles 4-2 in the first game of the conference tournament.
If the Eagles were nervous to be playing postseason softball, they did not show that early on in the contest as they came out firing on all cylinders. The opening game of the conference tournament got off to a picture perfect start for UNW.
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) started the game with a double and then
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) reached on a fielder's choice but no outs were recorded on the play.
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) then hit a double to left centerfield which seemed destined to give the Eagles the first run of the game. However, the Yellowjackets played outstanding defense all game long, and it started in the first inning. They executed a relay from centerfield to shortstop to home to tag out Gee trying to score from second base. However, the Eagles continued to hit the ball in the first inning.
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) hit a clutch two out single that scored Lane for the first run of the game.
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Wheaton College) would then single home Iverson and the Eagles led 2-0. In the home half of the first,
Emma Heffron (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) walked a batter, but did not allow anyone to score and UNW was off to a red-hot start, leading 2-0 after an inning.
The Eagles threatened to add to their lead in the top of the second inning.
Maggie Oehlerking (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) and
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) drew walks to start the inning. Gee would bunt them over and UNW had runners on second and third with only one out. However, Superior would find a way to induce consecutive groundballs and would escape the frame without harm. In the bottom of the second, the Yellowjackets started chipping into the Eagle lead. Superior got the lead off runner on with a single and then advanced her to third with a sacrifice bunt and a groundout. Now it was the Jackets' turn to get a clutch two out base hit. A single scored the runner and it was 2-1 in favor of the Eagles after two innings.
The Eagles' threatened again in the third inning, but again were not able to capitalize with a run. Iverson hit a leadoff double and
Reganne Henning (Beatrice, Neb./Beatrice) came in to pinch run. However, Henning would not move from second base as she was stranded there after three consecutive Eagle outs. Heffron gave up a two out double to the Jackets, but would keep her at second base by inducing an inning ending groundout. The score remained 2-1 after three.
The Eagles would go down in order (for the first time in the game) in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth, the Yellowjackets finally found a way to drive the ball off of Heffron who had been dominant in the game up to this point. A solo homerun that just got over the fence in left field tied the game 2-2. Heffron would buckle down and force two straight groundouts to end the inning.
With the game now tied, the contest entered the fifth inning. With two outs and Iverson on first base, Beer hit another single up the middle. But that big, run scoring hit continued to elude UNW as they grounded out to end the frame. Heffron gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth but responded well by retiring the next three batters to move the game to the sixth inning still tied.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Eagles began knocking on the door once again.
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock) got on base to start the inning thanks to a Jacket error. Oehlerking executed a sacrifice bunt to perfection to advance her to second base with one out. Terry then drew a walk and Gee hit a single to load the bases with only one out. With that go ahead run only 90 feet from the plate, the Yellowjackets once again danced out of danger by picking up a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
The Yellowjackets came up to the plate in the bottom of the sixth with the game tied and they now had the momentum after working out of that bases loaded jam. The inning started with a single and a walk. The runners then advanced to second and third base respectively on a pitch in the dirt. Superior then came through with a ground ball and a sacrifice fly to score two runs despite only collecting one hit in the inning. The Yellowjackets finally had their first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth. The Eagles would pick up a walk in the top of the seventh but wouldn't find a way to push any more runs across the plate as they dropped the opening game of the UMAC tournament 4-2.
UNW had a nice day at the plate as they took good at bats against a very high quality pitcher for Superior. The Eagles picked up seven hits and drew five walks as they had plenty of baserunners in the contest. However, the difference in the game was the Eagles not collecting that big hit with runners in scoring position as they left 11 runners on base in the game.
Emma Heffron (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) pitched well for the Eagles. She pitched six innings giving up six hits and four runs while picking up a strikeout. She did a good job of not giving up solid contact for the majority of the game as four of her six hits allowed were singles.
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall),
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo), and
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) all had two hits in the contest. Beer along with
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Wheaton College) had RBIs in the game.
Up Next
The UMAC Postseason Tournament is double elimination so the Eagles are not out of it yet. #3 UNW will play #4 Crown who fell to #1 Bethany Lutheran in the second game on Thursday. First pitch of the elimination game between the Eagles and the Polars will be at 1:30 PM on Friday afternoon in Mankato. The winner will advance to play another elimination game on Friday evening against the loser of #1 Bethany Lutheran and #2 Wisconsin-Superior. Schedule updates and scores for the UMAC Postseason Tournament can be found on umacathletics.com and unweagles.com.
