MANKATO, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Softball team took on a pair of non-conference, MIAC opponents inside the MSU Dome on Saturday to open their season. The Eagles dropped their season opener 7-3 to Saint Mary's, but bounced back with a 10-2 win in game two over St. Catherine.
Game One
The Eagles' first at bat of the year delivered a base runner as
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) drew a walk, but she would be stranded on first base and the Eagles went scoreless in the top half of the first.
Emma Heffron (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) was given the ball as the Eagles' opening day starting pitcher. She gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the frame, but would retire three straight Cardinals to pitch a scoreless first as well.
In the top of the second inning, it appeared as if UNW would score their first runs of the season.
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) ripped a ground rule double to centerfield and the next batter,
Lindsey Dvorak (Richmond, Minn./ROCORI), was hit by a pitch. However, the next three Eagles were all retired via punch out and the two runners were stranded.
Heffron, the Eagles' pitcher experienced some bad luck in the second inning when she gave up her first run of the season. She gave up a single and an error allowed the runner to advance to second base. She then got the next three batters to groundout, however, the runner did come across to score. Northwestern trailed Saint Mary's 1-0 at the end of two innings.
The Eagles were retired 1-2-3 in the top half of the third before the Cardinals used "small ball" to put together a big inning and stretch out their lead. SMU used two infield singles, a pair of Eagle errors, and one big hit (a double) to score four runs and extend their lead to 5-0.
The Eagles would answer back in the top of the fourth by scoring their first run of the season. Beer started the rally with another base hit before
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock) hit an RBI double that brought her around to score. Heffron would pitch a scoreless bottom of the fourth and the Eagles trailed 5-1 entering the fifth inning.
UNW's offense would ride the momentum in the fifth frame.
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Marian) reached on an error to lead off the inning and went to second on Lane's sacrifice bunt.
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) then picked up her first RBI of the season by driving in Bentley with a single to left field.
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) delivered a clutch, two-out single that scored Gee and the Eagles had cut the Cardinals' lead to 5-3 entering the bottom of the fifth.
However, the Cardinals did not waste any time building their lead back up. The inning started with an error by UNW's defense and that was immediately followed up with a two run homerun and SMU was back in front by four, 7-3. Neither offense would cross the plate again in the contest and the Eagles' ending up dropping their first game of the season 7-3.
Heffron ended up pitching five innings, giving up five earned runs.
Jenna Nusbaum (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) entered the game out of the bullpen for UNW and pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
Game Two
In the second game of the doubleheader, and their season, the Eagles used a first inning ambush on their way to ending the game in five innings.
Ireland Strubbe (Chandler, Ariz./Valley Christian) was the Eagles' starting pitcher in Saturday's finale and she found herself in a jam early. St. Catherine had runners on second and third with nobody out in the top of the first inning. Strubbe, in her first start of the season, stayed cool, calm, and collected. She recorded a strikeout, lineout, and a fly out to get out of the inning unscathed.
In the early innings of game one on Saturday, the Eagles left some runners stranded on base. In the opening inning of game two, it was obvious that the Eagles did not want that to happen again. The frame got off to a promising start when
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) hit a one out single and
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Lone Star) followed up with a walk.
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) singled home Gee and the Eagles were on the board first. Lundt would score on a single from
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) and
Lindsey Dvorak (Richmond, Minn./ROCORI) hit a sacrifice fly that scored
Reganne Henning (Beatrice, Neb./Beatrice) (who had pinch ran for Iverson). Leading 3-0,
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock) came up to the plate. She blasted a two-run homerun to left centerfield for UNW's first homerun of 2024. The Eagles led 5-0 after the first inning.
Strubbe pitched another scoreless inning in the second and the Eagles were also held scoreless in the bottom of the frame. Strubbe continued to frustrate the Wildcats by shutting them out in the top of the third as well.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Eagles' offense would explode for their second five-run inning of the game.
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Marian) started the rally by walking and stealing second.
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) followed that with a single, but Bentley was held up at third base. Lane then stole second base which allowed Bentley to swipe home on the throw. Lane would eventually come around to score on a Lundt single. An Iverson single and a Beer walk would load the bases. With the bases juiced, Keith came up with another big hit. She delivered a base hit which brought Lundt around to score.
Trista Oberle (Hudson, Wisc./Homeschool), a freshman, picked up the biggest hit of her young career before the frame was over. She ripped a two run single to push the Eagles' lead to 10-0.
The Wildcats would finally figure out Strubbe (a bit) as they scored a run in the fourth and the fifth but it was too little too late. UNW picked up their first win of the season, 10-2 over St. Catherine.
Up Next
The Eagles will be right back inside the MSU Dome for two more MIAC games in exactly a week's time. On Saturday, February 24
th UNW will play St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus in Mankato.
