Notables
-Second year in a row CSS forces a winner-take-all UMAC Tournament game
-Saints hit four home runs in the win over Minnesota Morris; five for the day
-The season series with UWS is now 2-2 and the all-time series is tied 23-23
DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica softball team needed to first beat the University of Minnesota Morris and then take down the University of Wisconsin-Superior Saturday in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament to keep its season alive. It did just that, totaling 28 runs between the two games to force a winner-take-all championship game Sunday at Kenwood Field.
CSS 17, UMM 1 (F/5)
After managing only 12 hits in its last 63 at-bats the previous two games, St. Scholastica got the offense rolling early against the Cougars sending 28 batters to the plate in the first three innings and totaling 14 runs.
Morris also helped the Saints out committing six errors, which ultimately led to nine of the 17 runs being unearned.
Also after four games of zero home runs at Kenwood Field during the tournament, the Saints' power got going with a
Rendi Johnson (Bonney Lake, Wash./Bonney Lake HS) 2-run home run in the bottom of the first as part of a five-run inning. Johnson then hit another two-run home run in the bottom of the second as part of another five-run inning.
Marjaana Dailey (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) would belt a pinch-hit three-run home run in the third inning as CSS plated four in that inning. The final runs of the game came on a
Carley Henning (Mazeppa, Minn./Zumbrota-Mazeppa HS) three-run home run on the bottom of the fourth to make the final 17-1.
Maggie Schley (Mounds View, Minn./Irondale HS) got the win on the mound, going three innings.
Jill Rosby (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Park Center HS ) struck out four in two innings of relief. Schley was also 3-for-4 at the plate and scored three runs.
Nikki Logergren (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Denfeld HS (Northern Stars)) was 2-for-2 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
CSS 11, UWS 3 (F/6)
The Saints would have a rematch with Bridge Rival UW-Superior in the championship game. If UWS won, it would have captured the title. However, St. Scholastica wanted to extend the tournament to a fourth day and two UWS errors in the bottom of the second allowed the Saints to build an early 6-0 lead. A four-run sixth inning ended the game prematurely by mercy-rule as the Saints and Yellowjackets will play again tomorrow in the winner-take-all game.
After a quiet first inning, the Saints got back-to-back singles to lead off the second.
Kara Warren (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Denfeld HS) would score on a double play ball to put the Saints up 1-0.
Rendi Johnson (Bonney Lake, Wash./Bonney Lake HS) then reached on a two-out throwing error. After a
Chrisi Mizera (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East HS) single, the inning was kept alive again on a UWS fielding error to load the bases. That allowed
Alexa Bremer (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) to rip a bases-clearing double to center and make it 4-0. A
Micah McGuiness (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) RBI single was followed by a Schley RBI double to make it 6-0 Saints after two innings.
The Yellowjackets cut the lead in half in the top of the third with three runs coming across. CSS extended the lead back to 7-3 in the bottom of the fourth when
Becca Zwak (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) scored on a Warren groundout.
The Saints ended the game early with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Warren first hit a two-run double to center and that was followed by a Logergren two-run home run over the center field fence to make the final score 11-3.
McGuiness struck out four and allowed five hits in six innings to earn the victory. Bremer was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Warren also had three RBIs in the victory.
Winner Advances to NCAA Tournament
The winner of tomorrow's UMAC Tournament championship game tomorrow will receive the conference's automatic qualifier into next week's NCAA Division III Tournament. Pairings and locations of the NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Monday at noon on NCAA.com.
