MANKATO, Minn. - With a hot Friday afternoon start time, the University of Northwestern's Softball team walked onto the field ready to play on day two of the UMAC Softball Tournament. With their season hanging in the balance, the Eagles had to win twice today in order to keep playing. This resilient team held nothing back as they stifled the Minnesota Morris Cougars, pulling away for an 8-1 victory, avoiding elimination. In a quick turnaround, UNW then put on a show with the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets. In four of the five match-ups against UWS this season, the game has been determined by two runs or less. These talented teams stayed consistent with their other outings as the Eagles won by one run, and a score of 8-7.
GAME 1 - University of Minnesota Morris Cougars
The Eagles were locked in and left no doubt as they jumped to a 7-0 lead by the 4th inning, scoring five runs in the fourth frame. Northwestern's first four runs were scored with the assistance of three massive doubles from
Lani Schoper (Madison Lake, Minn./Mankato West). Her first double came in the 1st inning. Schoper's hit sailed to the wall just fair of the foul line, allowing
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) to round the bases from first. In the top of the 3rd inning, after the Cougars crammed the bases with no outs, Coach
Alicia du'Monceaux called a meeting with the infield before UNW corralled the next three outs via a fly ball to
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake), a swinging strikeout delivered by
Ireland Strubbe (Chandler, Ariz./Valley Christian), and a fielder's choice from Schoper to
Kate Trump (Faribault, Minn/Bethlehem Academy) to keep Morris off of home plate.
Gee and Schoper kept things rolling in the bottom of the 3rd. The defense, expecting a bunt or slap from Gee, snuck forward on the field, but the senior launched the ball over the head of the center fielder and sprinted all the way to third. Gee quickly came the final 60 feet after Schoper hit her second double to the left corner of the field. The Eagles' action-packed 4th inning started with a three-and-out to bring them up to bat.
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) opened the inning with a well-dropped bunt to make it to second. In regular Terry fashion, she stole second before a single from Lane pushed her to third. Following Terry's lead, Lane also stole second, making room for Gee on first. Gee then beautifully bunted to juice the bases in preparation for the big bat of Schoper. Unable to miss, Schoper clobbered the first pitch she saw to the back wall of center field, scoring Terry and Lane. To cap off the monumental inning,
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo), who was two RBI away from the Northwestern record of career RBI (139), launched a three-run home run to break the career RBI record with 140, and to bring the score to 7-0.
UNW gave up one run to Morris in the 5th inning, and collected their final run, scored by
Hannah Storey (Big Lake, Minn./Monticello), in the 6th inning. Storey was the pinch runner for Iverson, and after stealing second, was brought home on a sacrifice fly from Beer. The Eagles secured another three-up-three-down inning to clinch the victory and survive to play another game.
With 15 hits as a team, the Eagles were batting machines. Gee led the charge, going a perfect 4-4 at the plate with a triple and three runs scored. Schoper's three hits through four plate appearances were all doubles, and she notched four RBI. Terry was 2-3 with two successful stolen bases, while Lane and Iverson each went 2-4. Strubbe got the start on the rubber for Northwestern and pitched 4.2 innings. She only allowed one earned run and struck out four batters as she was awarded the win.
Maddie Bottineau (Andover, Minn./Andover) entered the game for the final 2.1 innings and surrendered just one hit.
GAME 2 - University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets
For this senior class, UWS has ended their UMAC Tournament run in two of the three previous years. This UW-Superior team also beat UNW with a walk-off run just 24 hours prior. Today, however, was different as the Eagles took the lead in the 5th inning and didn't let go until the final out to finish on top by a score of 8-7.
UNW started strong and scored in the opening frame. Schoper made it to her favorite base after hitting a single to left field, then getting the signal from first base coach,
Courtney Schmidt, to go to second on the fielding error. After safely making it to second base, she then ran home on Iverson's base knock. With the opening run on the scoreboard, the Eagles took care of business on the defensive end, leaving two runners stranded on base. In the top of the 2nd inning,
Kate Trump (Faribault, Minn/Bethlehem Academy) watched four balls pass by and made her way to first. Terry moved Trump to second and sprinted to first on her bunt to the pitcher. Lane forced the defense to choose on her hit, but Trump beat out the throw to load the bases with one out.
Trista Oberle (Hudson, Wisc./Homeschool) pinch hit for Gee and hit a deep ball to center field, bringing Eagle fans to their feet. Her hit fell just shy of the fence to create a sacrifice fly, which plated Trump. During Schoper's at-bat, chaos ensued as Lane stole second. The catcher attempted to throw Lane out at second, but the pitcher intercepted the throw and attempted to get Terry out at third. With a miscommunication at third, Terry was able to make it home for a 3-0 lead.
Unaffected by the deficit of three runs in the second inning, UWS blasted a three-run dinger to tie the game. Superior then found another run to take the lead. The following two innings were stalemates, keeping the Yellowjackets on top. Finally, in the top of the 5th, with back-to-back singles, Schoper and
Emma Edwards (Ham Lake, Minn./Blaine) stood on first and second. Another sacrifice fly brought Schoper home to tie the score at 4.
Briar Armatoski (Amherst, Wis./Pacelli Catholic) pinch ran for Edwards and made her way around the bases before getting tagged out at home. Beer, Trump, and Storey were the ducks on the pond leading up to Terry's plate appearance. Terry drove Beer home on a single to center field to retake the lead before the third out. With the lead back in hand, UNW quickly retired all three batters, starting with a diving catch from
Ireland Strubbe (Chandler, Ariz./Valley Christian), followed by routine 6-3 and 5-3 putouts.
Northwestern and Superior matched effort in the 6th inning, as both teams scored three runs. The first run of the inning was driven in by Iverson, who, after breaking the career RBI record in the first game, also broke the UNW single-season RBI record with her 47th RBI this season. Storey was credited with the final two RBI as she singled and brought Beer and Armatoski home for the 7th and 8th runs of the game. With the 4-run lead, the Eagles held the Jackets with a final 8-pitch, 3-out inning, highlighted by a diving catch in foul territory by Lane and a strikeout by Strubbe.
Emma Heffron (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) started in the circle and allowed just six hits and four earned runs before Strubbe entered and closed the game with five strikeouts and five hits. Schoper stayed hot and went 4-5 with two runs scored, while Terry also batted well, going 3-4 with an RBI and one run scored. Oberle and Terry each had one RBI, Storey tallied two RBI, and Iverson collected three RBI.
After facing two win-or-go-home games this afternoon, the Eagles showed their grit and tenacity en route to their two victories. The story stays the same for tomorrow's game, where they will take on the host, Bethany Lutheran, starting at noon. The Eagles will need two wins against the strong BLC team to pave their way to the NCAA tournament. Northwestern played hard today and will carry that energy into tomorrow's (hopefully) two games.
