Northwestern, St. Scholastica advance to set up UMAC softball championship rematch
DULUTH, Minn.---For the second-straight year, the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Northwestern will meet in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) softball tournament championship, but this time the No. 3 seed Eagles are the undefeated team after defeating the No. 1 Saints in the opening game Friday.
Following the opening game loss, the No. 1 Saints advanced to Saturday after taking down No. 5 Bethany Lutheran College that remained alive after taking down No. 4 Crown College in the first elimination game of the day.
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Tournament Site |
Game One |
Game Two |
Game Three |
Game 5 - No. 3 Northwestern def. No. 1 St. Scholastica, 10-1 |
Box Score |
No. 3 Northwestern is one of just two UMAC teams – and the only tournament team – that defeated No. 1 St. Scholastica during the regular season and the two faced off in the 2017 tournament championship round. After both teams won their opening games Thursday, they faced off again Friday with No. 3 Northwestern continuing use it's high-powered offense to advance to the championship round Saturday with a 10-1 win.
After a scoreless first, the Eagles got on the board first when Lexi Kopacek drove in Kayla Hannasch who reached on a lead-off single. The Saints managed to hold off the Eagles in the third inning, but still couldn't get their own bats going.
In the top of the fourth, the Eagles got hot when Ciara Scheithauer and Kopacek hit back-to-back singles to put two runners on base for Faith Forceir who hit a home run over the left field fence to five the Eagles a 4-0 lead. Mindy Forceir then reached on an error and came home for a fifth run on a single from Ellie Ronning.
The Saints managed to put one run up on a RBI single from Cindi Rydlund to cut the lead to 5-1, but the Eagles continued to score adding one run in the sixth and four in the seventh.
Mindy Forceir led the Eagles at the plate going 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI. Ronning also tallied three hits and two RBI. Kopacek earned the win on the mound allowing just three hits in 4.2 innings pitched.
Game 6 - No. 5 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 4 Crown, 7-3 |
Box Score |
The first game Thursday saw No. 4 Crown defeat No. 5 Bethany Lutheran by just one run before the Storm lost to the top-seeded Saints and the Vikings defeated No. 2 University of Wisconsin-Superior in extra innings to set up another meeting in an elimination situation Friday. This time, Bethany Lutheran got the final knockout in defeating Crown 7-3 to remain alive.
Kaylee Mork singled on the opening at bat of the game and quickly came home on a sacrifice fly from Sarah Presler to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Crown responded with a double from Lottie Ellis that sent Lis King across for a run. Larissa Vik then doubled for two RBI putting the Storm up 3-1.
That was all the scoring that would occur, though, for the higher-seeded Storm as the Vikings managed to hold them scoreless through the next six innings. It wasn't until the fourth inning that the Vikings tied it up on RBI from Morgan Mashlan and Kendra Porath.
Presler scored the go-ahead run in the top of the fifth on a fielding error to make it 4-3. The final pressure came in the seventh when Anna Pipenhagen, Eden Ambrose and Taylor Kottke each picked up a RBI to send the Vikings on for a date with the Saints.
Pipenhagen threw her third complete game of the tournament to get the win in the circle, while Mork and Presler led the Vikings at the plate with two hits a piece. King led the Storm with two hits and Olivia Christopherson suffered the loss pitching.
Game 7 - No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 3 Bethany Lutheran, 2-0 |
Box Score |
On their home field with elimination looming, the No. 1 Saints used a solid defensive effort to quiet the No. 5 Vikings to remain alive and move on to the title game with an unfamiliar loss on their record.
The Saints scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning when Maggie Schley hit a RBI single to send Alexa Bremer across home. The next run didn't come until the bottom of the fourth when Schley got a lead-off double and pinch runner Skylar Gunderson scored on an error.
Schley recorded two of the Saints' five hits to power the offense, while Vanessa Kohl struck out five in her seven-inning shutout win on the mound. Pipenhagen finished her stellar career with her fourth complete game of the tournament tallying seven strikeouts.
Championship Saturday will begin with the No. 1 Saints and No. 3 Eagles meeting at 12 p.m. Should the Saints win, the final deciding game will begin at 2 p.m.
Playoff Schedule
Thursday, May 3 (Day One)
Game 1 – No. 4 Crown def. No. 5 Bethany Lutheran, 3-2 |
Box Score |
BLC Recap |
CC Recap |
Game 2 – No. 3 Northwestern def. No. 2 Wisconsin-Superior, 17-3 (5 inn.) |
Box Score |
UNW Recap |
UWS Recap |
Game 3 – No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 4 Crown, 5-4 |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
CC recap |
Game 4 – No. 5 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 2 Wisconsin-Superior, 6-5 (10 inn.) |
Box Score |
BLC Recap |
UWS Recap |
Friday, May 4 (Day Two)
Game 5 – No. 3 Northwestern def. No. 1 St. Scholastica, 10-1 |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
UNW Recap |
Game 6 – No. 5 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 4 Crown, 7-3 |
Box Score |
BLC Recap |
CC Recap |
Game 7 – No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 5 Bethany Lutheran, 2-0 |
Box Score |
BLC Recap |
CSS Recap |
Saturday, May 5 (Day Three)
Game 8 – 12 p.m. No. 1 St. Scholastica vs. No. 2 Northwestern |
Live Stats |
Live Video |
Game 9 – 2 p.m. If necessary – same teams as Game 8 |
Live Stats |
Live Video |
Event Information
The UMAC tournament has the following set admissions prices: Single Day Adult Ticket, $10; Single Day Student/Senior Ticket - $5; Adult Tournament Pass, $15; Student/Senior Tournament Pass, $7. All UMAC students, staff and faculty are FREE with valid institution ID to all games. No other passes will be accepted.
All tournament information including scores, recaps, team information and more can be found on the
UMAC Softball Tournament page. Keep up with all of the tournament action on
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2018 Tournament Page