ST. PAUL, Minn. - The University of Northwestern Softball team swept the Martin Luther College Knights on the second day of their conference series. The Eagles have now won seven straight and remain undefeated in conference. In the first game on Saturday afternoon, Northwestern cruised to a 22-0 win, followed by a 13-0 win in the second game.
Martin Luther started the first inning by getting a runner to third base, but the Eagles defense held them scoreless in the top of the inning. UNW then showcased the inning of the year as they made it through their entire batting lineup twice, scoring 15 runs before the end of the inning. During the first time through the lineup, every batter made it on base and scored. Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) led off and saw four balls to get on base. Up next, both Lani Schoper (Madison Lake, Minn./Mankato West) and Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) were hit by pitches to find their way on base. A wild pitch allowed Gee to score as Lane moved to third and Schoper to second. Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo), batting clean up, grabbed an RBI as she knocked a single to left field. Hannah Storey (Big Lake, Minn./Monticello) was also walked, which reloaded the bases. Back to back singles through the 6-5 hole from Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) and Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) each scored one run. Bryn Anderson (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) hit a deep single, which allowed both Storey and Terry to score. With Beer and Anderson on the corners, Kate Trump (Faribault, Minn/Bethlehem Academy) walked up to bat. Trump is leading the team in home runs this season, and she added to that number with a bomb to left field to round out the line up. Her homer scored three runs and has now tied her for the top spot in the conference for home runs with five. UNW scored six more times after Trump's long ball. Gee once again got on base followed by single by Schoper and an Iverson walk. Both Gee and Schoper ran home on a double from Storey. Iverson scored after Terry hit a single, Storey scored with the help of Beer's double, Terry snuck home on a wild pitch, and Beer scored on a single from Anderson.
After a long first inning, UNW didn't allow the Knights to hop on the scoring train as they went three and out. Offensively, the Eagles slowed down in the next three innings, but never fully stopped their offensive heat. The second inning saw two runs scored by Beer and Maddie Bottineau (Andover, Minn./Andover), who batted in place of Terry. The two runs were brought in by a long single to center field off the bat of Trump, for her fifth RBI of the game. In the top of the third inning, Bottineau took care of business on her own as she threw three strikeouts to close the inning and keep Martin Luther at zero.
The third inning had new faces for the Eagles, but the same result as they tallied two more runs. Reggane Henning singled to get on base and advanced to second on Emma Edwards' (Ham Lake, Minn./Blaine) single. Bottineau juiced the bases as she made it to first. Another single, at the hands of Emma Morrissey (Wasilla, Alas./Colony), brought Henning home. Trista Oberle (Hudson, Wisc./Homeschool) then was walked to move Edwards home for the 19th run of the game.
Bottineau allowed a double in the top of the 4th inning, but not before striking out one batter. After the double, she fanned two more batters to bring UNW back on offense. In the final frame for Northwestern, Alayna Spiess (Nowthen, Minn./Pact Charter School) and Lexi Gonzalez (Oswego, Ill./Oswego East) singled and advanced on a passed ball. With runners on second and third, Edwards barreled a ball that carried well over the back fence, leaving no doubt on her second career home run, which scored the final three runs of the game.
In this opening game, UNW played 18 players, of which all but three scored. Edwards and Terry were perfect from the plate, going 2-2. Edwards finished with three RBI while Terry finished with two RBI. Anderson was 3-4 with three RBI, and Trump and Beer both went 2-3. Trump led with five RBI, and Beer and Storey each added two RBI. Bottineau struck out nine of 21 batters faced, gave up no runs, and only allowed four hits, turning in another 0.00 ERA performance.
GAME 2:
The second game started a little differently than the first as Ireland Strubbe (Chandler, Ariz./Valley Christian) struck out two batters en route to a 1, 2, 3, inning. On the flip side, the Knights also found two outs against the first two batters for a strong start. The Eagles were not phased by the two outs as they kept swinging to find seven straight runs. It started with Schoper getting walked, then an Iverson double. Both Schoper and Iverson were brought home in a hurry as Terry found her second in the park home run of the season. After Terry had cleared the bases, Beer hit a base knock in preparation for another home run hit by Anderson. Anderson launched the ball past the fence for the second home run of her career, and her second in nine days.Trump didn't let the bases stay empty for long after she was hit by a pitch. She then stole second before Gee hit a line drive down the left foul line to score her.
In the second inning, UNW found three outs through four batters, and took to batting once again. Their two runs of the inning were scored with the assistance of Anderson, tallying her fourth RBI of the game. Anderson's single allowed Iverson and Storey to come home, bringing the score to 9-0 by the end of the inning. Strubbe, the reigning UMAC Pitcher of the Week, showed off her arm and struck out the first two batters of the 3rd inning. The final out of the inning was caught in a heads-up play by Anderson at the plate.
The bottom of the 3rd inning held much of the same for Northwestern. Lane, the leader of the UMAC in doubles, found her 11th double of the season to get to second. Lane made it home as Schoper's hit caused trouble for the second baseman, giving Schoper enough time to make it to first. Iverson wanted to join the home run party this afternoon, as she hit a massive ball over the fence for a two RBI homer, her second of the year. UNW kept making plays with Storey finding a double, then coming home on Beer's hit. Storey's run was the 13th and closing run for Northwestern.
Strubbe pitched an impressive five innings, striking out nine batters, walking none, and giving up two hits. At the plate, Storey, Iverson, and Anderson each went 3-3. Storey scored three runs; Iverson also scored all three times she was on base and notched three RBI; and Anderson scored once but brought in four runners to lead the team. Terry finished 2-2 with three RBI, thanks to her inside-the-parker.
Finishing their sixth home game, the Eagles will now be on the road for the next five games. They are traveling to Iowa to take on the Norse from Luther College in a double header on Tuesday at 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM.
