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St. Cloud State University
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Husky softball team traveling the country in early season barrage
By Ben Dunsmoor
Published:
Monday, March 24, 2003
With the recent warm temperatures and sunny weather, it's evident that spring is near.
For the SCSU softball team however, their spring season has been here since February.
The Huskies, who finished third in the North Central Conference with an overall record of 44-13 last season, began this season ranked nationally at No. 13 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Poll.
They took their national ranking to the Division II Leadoff Classic in Irving, Tex., Feb. 28 to open up their season against Emporia State.
The Huskies began their schedule on a good note when they shutout Emporia 8-0 behind the arm of senior pitcher Megan Grimes. SCSU then dropped their second game of the season, and of the day, with a close 3-1 loss to the No. 1 team in the country, St. Mary's.
The second day in Texas looked a lot like the first. The Huskies rolled with a 14-6 win over Abilene Christian, but then lost a seven inning heartbreaker to Angelo State in the second game of the day, 2-1.
SCSU finished up their stay in Texas (March 2) with an early win over Delta State 5-1 and a 2-0 afternoon loss to Western New Mexico. After three days of softball in the Lonestar State the Huskies had left with a 3-3 record.
The next state the Huskies traveled to in their early season road trip was Florida for the West Florida Spring Fling in Pensacola from March 9-12. SCSU's fastpitchers rolled over Missouri-Rolla 3-0 in the first day of the tournament. They were slated to play a doubleheader with Rolla, but the second game of the deuce was rained out.
The Huskies dominated Lincoln (Mo.) March 10. SCSU played a doubleheader against Lincoln and shut them out in both games 10-0 and 8-0. The big lumber came out for St. Cloud in both games, but especially in the first game, as they tied a team record for most home runs in a game with four. Junior first baseman Brooke Gentzler also tied a team record for most home runs by a player in that contest with two.
In the second game, senior catcher Abby Bourman was perfect at the plate going three-for-three. Junior pitcher Nicole Webb earned the win for SCSU in the second game.
The Huskies made up their rained-out game with UM-Rolla during the second day of softball in Pensacola. The Huskies rolled over Mizzou by the final score of 7-1. Megan Grimes was the winning pitcher and improved her record to a perfect 5-0.
The Huskies split their games March 11 as they won their first match-up with Quincy College 7-0. But, they dropped their second game of the day to the second-ranked team in Division II fastpitch, Angelo State, 5-3. In the first game against Quincy, senior Abby Bourman set a new team career record for most RBI's with her 110th. Bourman set a new single-season RBI record last season with 52.
SCSU traveled to Columbus, Ga., for the March 14-15 Columbus State Invite. The Huskies only played one day of softball as the second day's slate of games was rained out, but they crammed three games into the first day.
The first game was played against the host team, and 22nd-ranked team in D-II, Columbus State. The home-field advantage helped CSU as they shutout the Huskies 5-0.
Junior pitcher Nicole Webb evened her pitching record to 3-3 with a 4-3 win over a 13th-ranked Kennesaw State team. Kennesaw took over the No. 13 spot in the polls after SCSU dropped to 21.
The last game St. Cloud played in Georgia was against No. 10 California-Pennsylvania. After eight innings of trying to decide what state California-Pennsylvania was from, the Huskies and Cal-Penn scored all their runs in the ninth inning.
Cal-Penn scored one more than SCSU however, and won the game 2-1. After trips to Texas, Florida and Georgia, the Huskies early season record stood at 9-6.
SCSU traveled to Missouri this past week and played a doubleheader with Missouri Western March 21. The Huskies swept Western, shutting them out in the first game 1-0 and dominating them in the second game 14-4. SCSU's record currently stands at 11-6.
The No. 21 Huskies stayed in Missouri this weekend for the Missouri Western Invite in St. Joseph, Mo.
