MINOT, ND – Despite blasting the only three home runs of the day – and losing another two to indoor ground rules – the University of Mary softball team came up just short in a Northern Sun doubleheader against St. Cloud State University. In a pair of games scheduled for Bismarck, ND, but moved to Minot, ND, to play inside the Air-supported Dome due to poor weather conditions, the Huskies rallied for 4-2 and 6-4 wins over the Marauders.
GAME 1 St. Cloud State 4 UMary 2
The Marauders scored first on a 2-run home run by
Paige Matsuki but UMary couldn't hold the lead. Losing two home runs – one each by
Kylie Alto and another by
Emma Noble – when their blasts hit the ceiling of the dome, a critical defensive miscue by the Marauders led to the tying and go-ahead runs by the Huskies.
PIVOT POINT
Down 2-0, the Huskies broke onto the scoreboard in the fourth inning with a pair of singles, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly. After a double to right placed a pair of runners in scoring position, a dropped throw for what would have been the final out instead allowed two runs to score and gave SCSU a 3-2 lead.
Down 4-2 in the fifth, the Marauders loaded the bases with two outs but couldn't find a way to score.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Freshman
Kasidy Chileen finished 2-for-2, the only UMary player with multiple hits.
Matsuki, Noble and Racheal Laetsch combined to post the other three Marauders hits.
Madison Jahner allowed five hits and two earned runs in five innings. She walked two and struck out three.
Freshman
Sarah Thomson pitched two shutout innings of relief, walking one and striking out one.
Kylie Thomsen pitched a complete game win for SCSU, allowing five hits and five walks. She also was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Marauders stranded ten runners in the game to five for SCSU.
GAME 2 SCSU 6 UMary 4
Kylie Alto and
Emma Noble both homered for the Marauders in game two and the Marauders cracked three of the four extra base hits in the game. The Huskies outhit the Marauders 11-7 and scored in five of the first six innings of the contest to complete the sweep.
PIVOT POINT
Threatening to blow open the game in back to back innings, the Huskies loaded the bases in both the third and fourth innings but the Marauders defense came up with a pair of double plays to limit the Huskies to a single run in both innings. UMary turned a 6-4-3 DP in the third with the tying run scoring on the play. In the fourth after a line out to Chileen for an unassisted double play at first, a two-out base hit by Mara Keating gave SCSU a 3-2 lead. Taking a 4-3 lead into the sixth, SCSU sealed the win with a run scoring double by Brooke Bowlin and an RBI single by Alexis Jacobs.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Emma Noble hit her fifth home run of the season in the second inning, a two-run line shot to left field that skipped off the top of the 4-foot high temporary fence. She finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs.
Colleen Crutchfield finished 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Kylie Alto hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, her fourth of the season.
Bowlin finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI for SCSU.
Keating was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI for the Huskies.
STAT OF THE GAME
UMary turned two double plays in the game and three on the day… SCSU stranded ten runners in the game to six for the Marauders.
ON DECK
The Marauders continue their weekend series on Saturday, March 31, against the University of Minnesota Duluth. In games moved from Bismarck to Minot, game time is 10 am in the Air-supported Dome on the Minot State campus.
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