ST. PAUL, Minn.- Over the last week, the University of Northwestern Softball team has taken on opponents from the "big three" of Midwest Division III conferences. Entering Wednesday afternoon, the Eagles had picked up wins against the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and they completed the trifecta by picking up a win over the American Rivers Conference on Wednesday evening.
UNW hosted a non-conference doubleheader at Reynolds Field on Wednesday when the Luther College Norse came to town. Luther used a strong starting pitching performance to win the opener 3-1 but the Eagles used the long ball to earn a split with an 11-5 win in game two.
Game One
Runs were hard to come by in the first game of Wednesday's double billing. The Eagles were blanked offensively through the first four innings of the contest.
Emma Heffron (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) was up to the task for the Eagles in the circle facing a difficult offensive opponent in the form of Luther College. Heffron retired six of the first seven Norse batters she faced on her way to pitching two scoreless frames to start the game.
Luther didn't have a hit off of Heffron through the first two innings and they didn't get their first hit in the third inning either. However, they did pick up their first run of the game thanks to some mistakes by the Eagles' infield. The first two batters hit groundballs and neither play was completed cleanly. A throwing error and a fielding error allowed both runners to reach base and Luther scored an unearned run for the first of the game.
In the top of the fourth inning, Luther got another pair of runs off of Heffron, but once again, one of those runs was earned. Heffron gave up a pair of singles in the inning (her first hits that she had surrendered in the contest) and the Eagles committed two more errors in the frame. Luther led 3-0.
While Heffron was pitching a strong game for UNW, the Eagles' batters had their hands full at the plate as well. The first 12 Eagle batters were retired to start the game as the Norse pitcher had faced the minimum through four innings. Similar to what Luther did in the third inning, the Eagles scored their first run of the game before they collected their first hit of the game.
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) walked to start the inning; making her the first UNW base runner of the game.
Reganne Henning (Beatrice, Neb./Beatrice) pinch ran for her and scored when
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock) hit a ground ball to the shortstop, who missed it, and rolled all the way through the left centerfield gap to the wall. Henning cruised around the bases and scored the Eagles' first run of the game. UNW trailed 3-1.
Heffron did her best to keep the Eagles in the contest. She pitched three straight scoreless innings to close out the game, only giving up two hits in the final three frames. Heffron's final line was seven innings, four hits, one earned run, one walk, and three strikeouts.
The Eagles did not fall victim to a no hitter as
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) picked up a single in the sixth and Iverson singled in the seventh. Neither of those base runners would come around to score and UNW dropped the opener 3-1.
Game Two
Games one and two of this doubleheader could not have been more polar opposite for the Eagles' offense. After being shut down in the first game of the set, UNW broke out in a big way in game two.
Luther hit a lead-off home run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. That home run was fitting because it sent the message that the long ball was going to be very prevalent in this game. However, it was the Eagles who hit the next three home runs in the contest.
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) led off the bottom of the first with a single. After needing over five innings to get a base hit in game one, the Eagles' first hit came from the first batter in game two. Softball is a hard sport to figure out sometimes. After a sacrifice bunt got her to second and a ground ball got her to third, Lane raced home to tie the game on a passed ball. With two outs,
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) drew a walk.
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Marian) came to the plate. In this game, good things seemed to happen when the senior came to the plate. Bentley drilled a two run home run to the opposite field to put the Eagles on top 3-1. It was her third home run of the season (spoiler alert: she has more than three home runs on the season at the time that this game recap is being written… keep reading).
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) picked up an RBI single before the inning was over and UNW led 4-1 after one inning of play.
After watching Northwestern score four runs in the bottom of the first, Luther decided to do the exact same thing in the next half inning. With the Norse now holding a slim 5-4 lead, the Eagles' offense went quiet momentarily.
After the Eagles were held scoreless in the second and third frames, the score held firm at 5-4 entering the bottom of the fourth. The bad news: the Eagles were losing. The good news:
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Marian) was batting. The better news:
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) was standing on third base. And
Reganne Henning (Beatrice, Neb./Beatrice) was standing on second. And
Briar Armatoski (Amherst, Wis./Pacelli Catholic) was standing on third. If you are following along at home, you understand that means the bases were loaded. They got "un-loaded" very quickly. Bentley launched a no-doubter over the left field fence. It was a grand slam. It was her fourth of the season. It was her second of the day. 8-5, Northwestern in front.
The Eagles' added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth and used the long ball to do it once again.
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Lone Star) hit a lead-off single and
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo), as she has done all season, took a ball to the opposite field. This ball just so happened to go over the fence for a two run home run. This was Iverson's first of the season and the Eagles' third of the evening.
Emma Edwards (Ham Lake, Minn./Blaine) picked up an RBI single later in the inning.
Ireland Strubbe (Chandler, Ariz./Valley Christian) got the start for the Eagles and was charged with giving up five runs; however, only one of those runs were earned. Strubbe got through five innings and gave up five hits on her way to collecting her sixth win of the season.
Maddie Bottineau (Andover, Minn./Andover) pitched two perfect innings of relief to pick up her second save of the season. She did not allow a base runner and added a strikeout. UNW held on for an 11-5 victory.
Up Next
What's up next for UNW Softball? Their biggest series of the season (so far). UNW is undefeated in UMAC play and welcomes another undefeated UMAC opponent to Reynolds Field for three games this upcoming weekend. The Eagles host Bethany Lutheran at 4:00 PM on Friday and start a doubleheader with the Vikings at 1:00 PM on Saturday. Saturday marks the 50 Years of UNW Softball Celebration at Reynolds Field.
