Saints, Eagles remain undefeated after day one of UMAC softball playoffs

5/2/2019 8:53:50 PM

MANKATO, Minn.---The 2019 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) softball tournament started in surprising fashion as the top two seeds face elimination after day one and No. 3 College of St. Scholastica and No. 4 University of Northwestern remain undefeated after a full day of action Thursday in Mankato, Minnesota.

No. 4 Northwestern kicked off the day with a solid 5-1 win over No. 5 University of Minnesota Morris before knocking off No. 1 Bethany Lutheran College 7-4 in nine innings to advance to the undefeated game Friday. No. 3 St. Scholastica will meet the Eagles to start day two following a 11-0 win in five-inning game two against No. 2 University of Wisconsin-Superior. The day ended with No. 2 Wisconsin-Superior eliminating No. 5 Minnesota Morris 9-3.

| Tournament Site | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 |

GAME 1 - No. 4 Northwestern def. No. 5 Minnesota Morris, 5-1 | Box Score |
Defending tournament champion No. 4 Northwestern proved itself to be one of the most dangerous teams in the postseason and didn't waste any time getting going Thursday. The Eagles tallied a run in the bottom on a walk following a double from Ellie Ronning to take a 1-0 lead.

No. 5 Minnesota Morris was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam, though, and held the Eagles scoreless in the next two innings. In the top of the fourth, the Cougars evened the scored on a fielding error following a double from Emily Nordquist.

It wasn't until the fifth inning that the Eagles would answer plating four runs on RBI doubles from Kayla Madison, Ronning and Courtney Schmidt as well as run on a throwing error to make it 5-1. The Eagles would hold to take game one and put the Cougars into the elimination game.

Ronning and Madison each tallied a pair of hits to lead the Eagles at the plate. Abbie Nelson earned a complete game victory surrendering just five hits and striking out two.

GAME 2 - No. 3 St. Scholastica def. No. 2 Wisconsin-Superior, 11-0 (5 inn.) | Box Score |
With a win over Bethany Lutheran Saturday, St. Scholastica earned itself the No. 3 seed which paid off big time after the Saints played just one game Thursday following an impressive victory over No. 2 Wisconsin-Superior behind multi-hit performances from three players.

The Saints started off hot scoring two runs on one sequence of plays after an RBI single from Olivia Howe putting them up 2-0 in the first. The Yellowjackets couldn't answer but held the Saints in the second. In the top of the third, the Saints pushed their lead to 4-0 after RBI from Maggie Schley and Josie Fourre. Nicole Anders drove in a run in the top of the fourth to push the lead to 5-0.

The lead broke open in the fifth with the Saints collecting six runs after a pitching change by the Yellowjackets. Fourre added another RBI to start off the scoring and the No. 3 Saints never looked back en route to the 11-0 win in just five innings which put the No. 2 Yellowjackets into the final game against hte Cougars.

Anders, Fourre and Schley each collected two hits with Fourre and Schley adding two RBI a piece. Schley also earned the win tossing a four-hit shut out with four strikeouts and just one walk allowed. Bailey Kinnunen picked up two hits at the plate for the Yellowjackets.

GAME 3 - No. 4 Northwestern def. No. 1 Bethany Lutheran, 7-4 (9 inn.) | Box Score |
Following a first-ever regular season conference title, No. 1 Bethany Lutheran was positioned for success with a home field advantage. Unfortunately for the champion Vikings, they drew the tough test of trying to come back after going down early to a dangerous Northwestern squad. The late-game comeback wasn't enough, though, as Northwestern rattled off three runs in the ninth to put the host Vikings into an elimination situation Friday afternoon.

Game three started off with a scoreless first inning, but No. 4 Northwestern didn't keep its bats quiet for long scoring four runs in the top of the second capitalizing on three errors from the Vikings. Faith Forcier and Mindy Forcier drove in back-to-back RBI to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead before Madison cranked a two-run home run over the center field fence making it 4-0 in Northwestern's favor.

Haylee Sobrero cut the lead in half when she hit a two-RBI double for the Vikings in the bottom of the fifth. After being held quiet again in the sixth, the Vikings found life in the bottom of the seventh. Kaylee Mork and Jasmine Bejarano led off with back-to-back hits to put the tying runs in play. Zoe Kinakin then singled to score Mork and put the Vikings within one. Two outs followed before Anna Hoffman sent Kinakin home to knot the game 4-4 and force extra innings.

Neither team could score in the eighth, but the Eagle bats came alive again in the top of the ninth. Kayla Hannasch plated the first run before Madison would record a two-run double to give the Eagles some breathing room going into the bottom half of the ninth. The Vikings managed to pick up two hits, but it wasn't enough as the Eagles won 7-4 to advance to the undefeated game Friday against St. Scholastica.

Madison led the Eagles going 3-for-5 with four RBI and a run scored, while Kinakin was 4-for-5 with two runs scored for the Vikings. Lexi Kopacek earned the complete game win on the mound for the Eagles.

GAME 4 - No. 2 Wisconsin-Superior def. No. 5 Minnesota Morris, 9-3 | Box Score |
Everything was on the line in the final game of the day as both No. 2 Wisconsin-Superior and No. 5 Minnesota Morris hoped to stave off elimination. Despite a late-game attempt to comeback, Minnesota Morris couldn't overcome a big deficit early in a 9-3 loss that allows Wisconsin-Superior to play on for another day.

Unlike the early game, the Yellowjackets wasted no time getting going at the plate scoring three times in the bottom of the first inning with RBI plays from Gabby Gidley, Bailey Armstrong and Davriana Horvath. The Yellowjackets added on three more in the second inning with Gidley picking up a RBI double to start off the scoring. Armstrong then added a two-RBI single to bring the Yellowjacket lead to 6-0.

With two more runs in the bottom of the third, the Yellowjackets looked as if they may end the game early boasting a 8-0 lead. However, the Cougars clawed their way back in when they scored two runs in the top of the fourth. Megan Knickerbocker scored Becca Holland and Paige Dahlberg with a single to center.

The Yellowjackets added another run to their lead in the fourth on a hit from Tiffany Kirk to push it to 9-2. The Cougars would get one more run on a RBI single from Holland but that would be it. The Cougars' ended the season 16-22.

Armstrong, Gidley Kirk and Alayna Tulip each tallied three hits in the win that earned the Yellowjackets a rematch with Bethany Lutheran. Ashley Taipale recorded a complete game win allowing two earned runs and striking out four Cougar batters.

Day two of the UMAC softball tournament will feature No. 3 St. Scholastica and No. 4 Northwestern at 12 p.m. with the winner advancing to the title game. Game six will then pit No. 1 Bethany Lutheran and No. 2 Wisconsin-Superior in an elimination game. The final game of the day will see the winner of game 6 take on the loser of game 5 in another elimination game for the opportunity to head to the championship on Saturday.

Event Information
The UMAC tournament has the following 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 for 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 Twitter and Instagram using #UMACchamp.

2019 Tournament Page

Schedule

Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

Conference Members

Conference Members

Saints, Eagles remain undefeated after day one of UMAC softball playoffs