|
Softball finishes strong
Record-setting regular season ends on high note with pair of shutout wins against UW-Superior; team seeded fourth in upcoming NCC tournament
 Media Credit: Michael Martin/Managing Editor SCSU�s Cally Stewart slides in under UW-Superior�s Rachel Weimer�s tag Wednesday afternoon. Stewart would go on to score in the Huskies 2-0 win. SCSU also beat the Yellow Jackets in the second game 6-0.
|
|
 Media Credit: Michael Martin/Managing Editor SCSU�s Megan Fuches makes contact during the Huskies� doubleheader sweep over the UW-Superior Yellow Jackets Wednesday afternoon at Selke Field.
|
|
The final tune-up before the North Central Conference tournament came on Tuesday and Wednesday for the Husky softball team. SCSU was playing their Lake Superior portion of the schedule as they took on the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and the University of Wisconsin-Superior, going 3-1 in the four-game stretch.
Tuesday's double dipper was played in Duluth against the UMD Bulldogs. SCSU dropped game one against UMD by a score of 3-1.
The Huskies scored first on the Bulldogs in the second inning as catcher Abby Bourman crossed the plate for SCSU. It was all Bulldogs after that, as they brought in two runs on SCSU pitcher Megan Grimes in the fourth inning. Junior Tiffany Rose came in the game in the fifth inning as UMD scored one more run.
The Huskies could not seem to get it together on offense, though, in this game.
"We just weren't hitting the ball," said catcher Abby Bourman. "We couldn't get any production out of it."
In the second game, however, the two teams could've called it quits after the second inning, as all five combined runs were scored in the first and second innings. UMD just kept coming at SCSU in the first as they jumped out to an early two run lead. The Huskies responded in the second, though, with three runs. This ended up being the final score of the game with SCSU winning that contest 3-2.
Nicole Webb got her 18th win of the season, bringing her record to 18-4. Abby Bourman, who has been hot at the plate most of the year, started to get the Husky bats going as she went 2 for 3 from the plate, and jacked the neon yellow ball over the fence for the sixth time this season.
The final regular season games, and final games this season at Selke field, came yesterday against the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellow Jackets.
There were no runs scored until the fifth inning in the first contest. That's when the Huskies brought in two runners on the bats of second basemen McKayla Kroll, and shortstop Angie Berg. That was all the scoring in this one though as SCSU shutout the Yellow Jackets. The Huskies would have liked to get some more offensive production in this game, but the Superior pitcher Amanda Johnston was giving them some trouble.
"She was a different speed than we're used to, but she was a good pitcher," Bourman said.
Johnston stayed in for Superior in the beginning of the second game, but showed some signs of fatigue as State scored three on her right away in the first inning. First baseman Brooke Gentzler, right fielder Abby Velta, and Berg all had multiple hits on Superior's pitching squad. For the Huskies, Tiffany Rose got the win from the pitching circle, as State won this one and shut out Superior on the afternoon 6-0.
The Huskies now look toward the NCC tournament where they hold the four seed behind Augustana, the spot the Huskies were hoping to occupy going into the tournament.
"I thought for sure we would get the number three seed and beat out Augustana," Bourman said.
"We think that we're a better team than they (Augustana) are," third baseman Megan Fuches said. "There's nothing we can do about it now, we don't want to dwell on it."
The Huskies take on number five-seeded Northern Colorado on Friday at 1 p.m in Grand Forks, N.D. SCSU is confident they can win but are concerned about their offensive production as of late.
"We're having a little problem with our bats right now," Fuches said. "We're not coming together hitting, but I think they'll come around."
SCSU will face some tough competition going into the tournament, as the NCC is arguably one of the toughest Division II softball conferences in the country.
"We just want to put our best softball together now because this is where it counts," Fuches said. "We have high expectations for this weekend and we think we can win it all if we play our best softball."
The Huskies' 37-5 final regular season record proves that they can win games when it counts. SCSU has to be clicking on all cylinders going into Friday's game. When the Huskies are juiced up, however, the NCC better watch out, because the black and red can steamroll anybody.
"When we all hit, we're a pretty hard team to beat," Fuches said.
Ben Dunsmoor can be reached at: [email protected]
|
|
|
|
|
|
