***To avoid weather conflicts on Saturday, the CSS softball will now play three games on Friday and one game on Saturday. The Saints still face Presentation at 10 a.m. and Martin Luther at noon Friday, but the Minnesota-Morris game scheduled for noon on Saturday has been moved to 8 p.m. Friday night. Also, the Bethany Lutheran game Saturday is moved up to a noon start.
DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica softball team will be traveling to Mankato to partake in four games at the UMAC Crossover hosted by Bethany Lutheran College on Friday and Saturday. The Saints then return home on Sunday to play Northland College in a doubleheader at Kenwood Field.
Game Times:
Friday:
vs. Presentation @ 10 a.m.
vs. Martin Luther @ Noon
vs. Minnesota-Morris @ 8 p.m.
Saturday:
at Bethany Lutheran @ Noon
Sunday:
Northland (DH) @ 1 p.m. (Kenwood Field) - Canceled
Last Action:
The Saints defeated both Northwestern College and Crown College on Wednesday in the Irish Dome in Rosemount, Minn. The Saints needed four runs in the top of the seventh to edge Northwestern College in the first game 10-9.
Theresa Tauer (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) hit a three-run home run as part of that seventh inning and finished with six RBIs for the game. In the second game, the Saints scored at least five runs in all four innings that they batted against Crown, including an 11-run third to win 28-0 in five innings.
St. Scholastica Saints (19-11, 14-1 UMAC)
The Saints will enter the crossover with a four-game lead in the loss column over second place Minnesota-Morris with six conference games remaining … Wednesday's victory over Northwestern College was third first time the Saints rallied from a three-run deficit to win in the final at-bat since 2004 when they did it on the road at Macalester … It was the first time this season, the Saints won after trailing after six innings … In the Crown victory, the Saints matched a program record with nine doubles … According to the latest NCAA Division III statistical rankings, the Saints are ranked third in the nation in triples per game (0.64) … CSS is also ranked 23rd in the nation in scoring (7.36 runs per game) … Sophomore catcher
Bonnie Kowalczyk (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls HS) continues to lead the Saints in batting average (.455), slugging percentage (.701), on-base percentage (.505), RBIs (25), and doubles (9) …
Jen Falk (Altona, Manitoba/W.C. Miller Collegiate (Rainy River CC)) picked up the first save of the season and her second as a Saint in win over Northwestern … No pitcher for the Saints has an earned run average over 3.40 and only one pitcher has an opponents' batting average of over .265.
Presentation Saints (11-19, 7-10 UMAC)
The Saints are 2-4 since the last battle of the Saints last week and have a chance at getting the No. 4 seed in next weekend's UMAC Tournament … Presentation is coming off a doubleheader sweep of Martin Luther College on Tuesday … Dana Chalupsky leads the Saints with a .462 batting average … Michelle Stratton is having a solid year with a .435 batting average, 39 RBIs, four home runs and a .696 slugging percentage … Stratton also leads the team in wins inside the circle with six on the year and 55 strikeouts ranks her second on her team … As a team the Saints are scoring 5.23 runs per game, while their opponents are scoring 7.54 per game.
Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Presentation: 21-0)
CSS won the battle of the Saints in a doubleheader at Kenwood Field last week.
Brittni Johnson (Thief River Falls, Minn./Lincoln HS (Northland CC)) pitched a nearly perfect game in the game one 14-0 win, and came back from a three-run deficit to win game two 11-3.
Martin Luther Knights (9-19, 6-11 UMAC)
The Knights still have a chance at getting the No. 4 seed in next weekend's UMAC Tournament, but need to take care of business this weekend … The Knights split with Bethany Lutheran on Wednesday … Sarah Free is one of the top hitters for the Knights with a .359 batting average and 25 RBIs … Free also has 11 doubles and two home runs on the year … Katie Kretch leads the team with a 3.84 batting average, while Karla Opperman has a team-high six home runs, which also matches a program record … The Knights are 38-of-45 on stolen base attempts this season … After giving up just 11 runs in the first three games, the pitching corps for the Knights are allowing about eight runs per game since … The Knights have a team ERA of 7.89, while they are scoring just over five earned runs a game.
Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Martin Luther: 38-5)
CSS dominated a doubleheader against the Knights earlier this year. The Saints defeated the Knights 16-0 in game one and 18-0 in game two.
Minnesota-Morris Cougars (15-15, 12-5 UMAC)
A week's time will have passed since the last time these two opponents faced off … Since then the Cougars fell to Martin Luther, but responded by defeating Bethany Lutheran … The Cougars currently sit in second place in the UMAC with a one-game lead in the loss column … The Cougars just have the four games this weekend remaining on their regular season … Morris' first victory over the Saints last weekend, snapped CSS's 25-game home win streak over conference opponents … Diane Blommel leads the Cougars with a .489 batting average, 13 extra-base hits and 24 RBIs … Blommel is also 18-20 on stolen base attempts … Kaitlyn Randall has exploded over the last week earning four wins in her five appearances for the Cougars to give her UMAC Pitcher of the Week honors and a 9-7 record … Randall has 146 strikeouts in 103.2 innings pitched and is ranked ninth in the nation with 10.1 strikeouts per seven innings pitched … The Cougars are scoring 5.73 runs per game while giving up 6 runs per game.
Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Minnesota-Morris: 21-1)
The Cougars and Saints battled last weekend and split their series… Randall and Falk combined for 21 strikeouts in game one that saw the Cougars prevail with a 1-0 victory. Randall pitched game two as well, but would give up six runs and pick up the loss in the 8-2 Saints victory. Johnson and Tauer each hit home runs for the Saints.
Bethany Lutheran Vikings (14-16, 9-7 UMAC)
The Vikings have lost two of their last three games, including splitting with Martin Luther on Wednesday … BLC has a scheduled make-up game with Northland College later today, which go a long way when it comes to the UMAC Tournament … The Vikings currently sit in fourth place with a one-game lead over Northland in the loss column … The Vikings have been on the road the last eight games, but will close out the regular season in Mankato … Emily Rauchman leads BLC with a .432 batting average … Rauchman is second on the team with 27 RBIs and tops with 14 doubles … She leads the country with 0.57 doubles per game … Edmison leads the pitching corps with a 7-3 record 4.40 ERA and her 35 strikeouts are second on the team … As a staff BLC has an ERA of 5.20 while the Vikings are batting .301 as a team … Their opponents are batting .285 with a team ERA of 5.23.
Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Bethany Lutheran: 16-1)
CSS defeated the Vikings in two games earlier this year by scores of 8-4 and 11-7. Kowalczyk had seven RBIs in the two games combined. Falk and
Darcy Roach (East Grand Forks, Minn./Sacred Heart HS) picked up the wins for the Saints.
Northland LumberJills (9-20, 6-8 UMAC)
The 'Jills still have a chance at getting the No. 2, 3, or 4 seed in the UMAC Tournament, but are currently on the outside looking in with seven conference games to play … Northland is scheduled to play a make-up game with Bethany Lutheran later today and 'Jills sit just one game back of the Vikings in the loss column … The LumberJills split yesterday, defeating Crown College 12-0, but falling to Northwestern College 2-1 … Kylie Garing leads the 'Jills with a .404 batting average … Jeanette Wendler has a team-high eight doubles and 27 RBIs … Steph Wilkinson leads the team with five home runs … Kristin Zimmer has seen the most action inside the circle with eight complete games and 59 strikeouts to go along with a 5.02 earned run average … Rebecca Ristau is the 10th toughest person to strikeout in Division III.
Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Northland: 35-6)
The Saints defeated Northland in the conference opener on April 2nd by a 12-1 score in five innings.
Kayla Jenkins (Esko, Minn/Esko HS) was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Falk picked up the win.
