St. Scholastica returns to UMAC tournament glory with win over Northwestern
DULUTH, Minn.---After suffering a heartbreaking loss to the University of Wisconsin-Superior last May, the College of St. Scholastica did what it needed to on the opening two days of the 2017 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) softball tournament to play for a chance at returning to postseason glory.
Thanks to an outstanding performance at the plate and on the mound from Chrisi Mizera, the No. 1-seeded Saints held off a scrappy No. 3-seed University of Northwestern squad for a 7-1 win for the tournament title Saturday afternoon.
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The Saints won their eighth-straight regular season title, but were hungry for a chance to return to the NCAA Championships after missing out a year ago. Saturday's win was the third UMAC tournament championship for the Saints in the last four seasons.
In their opening two games of the tournament, the Saints outscored their opponents 24-0 and hoped that momentum would carry over into the title game Saturday. However, it wouldn't be an easy task in holding off a Northwestern squad that fought off elimination three times over the course of the tournament picking up a win Thursday evening in extra innings and a pair of convincing victories Friday.
Saturday, though, the Saints were not letting up as they plated three runs in the opening inning to build an early lead. Following a single from Olivia Bretting and a walk for Mizera, Maggie Shley triped down the line to send both of her teammates home. The very next at bat, Toni Bishop singled through the left side to bring Schley around making it 3-0 Saints.
A scoreless second led to a thrilling third inning as Hannah Borgeson singled to set up Mizera's first of two home runs giving the Saints a sizeable 5-0 lead. Two innings later, Mizera launched a solo shot over left center to push the lead to six. Schley was then walked and Bishop doubled to bring her home again for the seventh run of the game for St. Scholastica.
The Eagles found some life in the top of the sixth when Mindy Forcier doubled before coming home for the lone run of the game on a RBI single from Megan Threlkeld. The Eagles' run was the only one surrendered by the Saints the entire tournament.
Mizera anchored the Saints at the plate going 2-for-2 with three runs, three RBI and two walks. She just as stunning on the mound. She forced the Eagles to go three-up, three-down before giving up her first hit of the game in the fourth. The senior hurler also tossed seven strikeouts and allowed just five hits en route to her 13th win of the season.
For the Eagles, Forcier recorded three of the team's five hits while Threlkeld had the other two. Lauren Silbernick recorded her fifth complete game of the tournament pitching for the Eagles.
With the win, the Saints improve to 24-15 overall, while the Eagles end as the runner up with a 19-20 overall mark. The Saints earned the UMAC's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championships and will learn their postseason fate Monday at 12 p.m. during the Division III selection show hosted at ncaa.com.
Playoff Schedule
Thursday, May 4 (Day One)
Game 1 – 10 a.m. No. 5 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 4 Wisconsin-Superior, 5-4 |
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Game 2 – 12 p.m. No. 2 Crown def. No. 3 Northwestern, 7-0 |
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Game 3 – 2 p.m. No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 5 Bethany Lutheran, 21-0 |
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Game 4 – 4 p.m. No. 3 Northwestern def. No. 4 Wisconsin-Superior, 5-4 |
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Friday, May 5 (Day Two)
Game 5 – 12 p.m. No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 2 Crown, 3-0 |
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Game 6 – 2 p.m. No. 3 Northwestern def. No. 5 Bethany Lutheran, 4-0 |
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Game 7 – 4 p.m. No. 3 Northwestern def. No. 2 Crown, 2-1 |
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Saturday, May 6 (Day Three)
Game 8 – 12 p.m. No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 3 Northwestern, 7-1 |
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2017 Tournament Page