2008 Woodie Awards
Softball finds swing in split with UND
Jake Laxen
Issue date: 4/19/07 Section: Sports
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"Knock on wood," pitcher Stef Schroeder said.
Now that the sun is out, the dome has been torn down and the team can actually play their games without fear of gusting chilly winds or the prospect of snow, the team is starting to get red hot.
"It is a lot easier going game after game instead of 'Are we gonna play or are we not gonna play?' It is nice getting back into it," Schroeder said. "I am so sick of the dome, it is nice to see the blue sky and green grass."
The Huskies split a doubleheader series with North Dakota Tuesday, continuing a positive upward swing as they have gone 6-2 in their past eight games.
In that span of hot play, the bats have come around, and the offense has been the team's driving force.
"Our bats are coming around now that we have a chance to get some games in and get some repetition," Husky head coach Paula U'Ren said.
The Husky's flaunted their offensive skills Tuesday at Selke Field, scoring a total of 14 runs during the two games.
The difference, though, from the win and the loss versus UND, was the pitching and defense.
"In the first game, our defense was a little more solid, and you could really tell the difference," U'Ren said.
In the first game, the Huskies rode the stellar pitching of Schroeder to a 5-2 victory.
"She has come along great; she is a great competitor," U'Ren said.
Schroeder, a junior, has come on strong as of late, entering the game with a four game winning streak and pitching 31 total innings over three days before the UND series.
On just a night's rest, Schroeder stole the show, fanning 9 UND batters while pitching a complete 7 innings to record the win.
Schroeder was in a zone all game allowing just six hits, one walk and two earned runs.
"She came out like a competitor, she threw the ball well and hit her spots," U'Ren said.
UND had difficulty manufacturing runs on Schroeder, as only first basemen Nicole Puerling was able to drive in runs on her, homering and doubling in the UND runs.
The Huskies had better success against their opponent, freshmen UND pitcher Alicia Pearce, collecting a total of nine hits while scoring five runs.
Impressively the Husky women went the whole game without striking out, a rare occurrence in fast-pitch softball.
Although seven of the nine starters for the Huskies reached base safely during the game, they too relied on just a few hands to drive in runs.
Junior right fielder Ashley Homan and freshmen center fielder Kaity Strever combined to knock in all of SCSU's five runs.
Homan doubled in junior short stop Jenny Gensch in the bottom of the first.
Strever complimented the early run by crushing a triple in the bottom of the second, allowing left fielder Amanda Chancellor and first basemen Courtney Shanks to cross home safely, putting the Husky lead at 3-0.
Not to be outdone, Homan hit in two more with a single in the bottom of the fifth, scoring leadoff hitter Rachel Haines and Gensch.
Schroeder cruised towards the end of the game retiring seven of her last eight batters, holding on to the Husky lead and propelling the team to the final 5-2 win.
Schroeder had now logged 38 solid innings in just four days and her overall record moved to 12-6.
Those though who thought Schroeder's day was done were wrongly mistaken.
U'Ren hoped to ride the hot hand and slated Schroeder as the game two starter inside the pitching circle.
The excessive pitching though appeared to have an affect on the pitcher, as she was able to complete only one inning surrendering seven runs on seven hits while walking one.
"We tried to throw her out there for the second game, but she was pretty gassed," U'Ren said
U'Ren lifted Schroeder in the second inning after she faced three batters, failing to retire any of them.
"It kinda stinks that I didn't finish, but we played well and I gave it all I could," Schroeder said.
Strever came into pitch for the Huskies and brought a little more stability pitching five innings allowing just one earned run while striking out three.
UND scored many runs, but the Huskies were there for a punch-counter punch until UND finally pulled away at 12-9.
"The second game was kind of frustrating because it was homerun for us, homerun for them, base hit for them, base hit for us, it was pretty even the whole way through," Schroeder said.
Second basemen Jess Price started the scoring on Schroeder as she lifted a grand slam in the top of the first.
Quickly rallying in the bottom of the inning, sophomore designated hitter Kelly Durkin, added a grand slam of her own, fueling energy into the Husky clubhouse.
"It (hitting a home run) is where you can be cocky, as bad as it sounds, but it pumps you up," Durkin said.
In the second UND beat up on Schroeder for three runs.
In the bottom of the inning the Huskies began to chip away at the lead, as Strever homered to center.
Durkin continued the chipping with her second homer of the game cutting the UND lead to 7-6.
Durkin had gone 0-3 in the first game, but provided a strong clutch performance in the second game.
"I just had the right kind of pitching (in the second game), that is pretty much it," Durkin said.
UND added the next two runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
The Huskies responded with three runs in the sixth, changing the scoreboard to a 9-9 tie.
The game though quickly escaped through the hands of the Husky women as they surrendered three earned runs in the top of the seventh inning as Lacey Trossbach replaced Strever on the mound.
"They came up with some hits in the seventh and we were just unable to answer," U'Ren said.
The back-and-forth affair is nothing new to UND this season.
"A lot of our games this year have been that way and we have always been able to come back, so I wasn't worried," UND manager Tracy Marback said.
UND left St. Cloud with a split, finishing the doubleheader on a high note.
"I think they (UND) just made up their minds that they were going to play and that they were going to swing the bats up there," Marback said.
The Huskies next play a double header Thursday at Minnesota State- Moorhead.