ST. PAUL, Minn. - Friday afternoon, the UNW Eagles Softball team closed out the series against the University of Minnesota Morris with an impressive five inning, 11-1 victory. Not only did Northwestern score in three of the four innings, they also hit a home run in three of the four innings. With the win, Northwestern moved to 6-0 in conference.
After three outs to move to the bottom of the inning, the Eagles wasted no time in breaking open the scoring by bringing in six runs in the first frame. Starting the offensive charge was senior Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall). Making it to third, Gee was brought home after a Lani Schoper (Madison Lake, Minn./Mankato West) sacrifice fly. Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) doubled and went to third as Hannah Storey (Big Lake, Minn./Monticello) made it to first. Up next for UNW was lefty Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine), who lasered a hit down the right field line, past the Cougars' defender, for a three RBI, in-the-park home run. Two batters later, Bryn Anderson (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) joined the home run club as she crushed the ball over the center field wall for her first collegiate, two RBI homer.
In the second inning, the Eagles kept the home run party going as Iverson barreled a ball over the back fence for another two RBI home run. This was Iverson's first home run of the season, and it had no doubt after leaving her bat. The third inning started with a Terry walk, a single knock for Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake), and an RBI for Anderson as she brought Terry home. The 4th and final home run came from the massive bat of Kate Trump (Faribault, Minn/Bethlehem Academy). This two RBI homer was Trump's fourth home run of the season, which is enough to tie her for first in the UMAC for home runs.
The Eagles' defense was in top form all game, but the in the final two innings, Northwestern cranked it up one more notch to end the series. In the 4th, one runner was walked before the next three batters got out. The final out of the inning was caught in dramatic form as Hannah Storey (Big Lake, Minn./Monticello) sprinted and dove to make the catch and shut down the inning. In the 5th, UNW went 1, 2, 3 to finish the game 11-1
Iverson led Northwestern's at-bats after going 3-3 with two RBI and a home run. Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) was 2-3 from the plate, scoring twice. Both Trump and Anderson went 1-2 with home runs and two and three RBI, respectively. Terry was 1-1 with three RBI and two scored runs. After the four home runs in this game, the Eagles lead the conference with 10 total home runs.
Ireland Strubbe (Chandler, Ariz./Valley Christian) pitched all five innings for the Eagles and continued her strong start to the season. She only gave up two hits, while striking out four batters and allowing no earned runs. Strubbe is second in the conference in earned run average with 1.86. She leads the conference in opposing batting average with .215, and is also third in the UMAC in batters struck out with 55.
Northwestern will continue home conference play as they take on the Knights of Martin Luther College on Friday, April 4, at 4:00 PM at Reynolds Field.
