Notables
-Saints have won 36 straight UMAC regular season home games
-Bishop has reached base safely in 13 straight games
-Rydlund has a RBI in each of the last four games
-CSS has won the last five games Kohl has started
DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica softball team put some distance between itself and the projected second-best team in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) by sweeping Bridge Rival University of Wisconsin-Superior on Tuesday at Kenwood Field.
Game 1: CSS 4, UWS 1
The first game of the afternoon saw a pitcher's duel between CSS'
Chrisi Mizera (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East HS) and UWS' Megan Pehrson through the first four innings, before the Saints used a four-run fifth inning to down the 'jackets 4-1.
Superior stranded runners on second and third in the first inning and the Saints stranded a runner at third in the second inning, but through four innings neither team mustered much offense.
CSS opened the bottom of the fifth with a
Jena O'Byrne (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville HS) double to right field.
Cindi Rydlund (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) followed with a double to right center to bring in O'Byrne and the first run of the game. An
Alexa Bremer (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) single ultimately put runners at second and third with no outs. However, UWS would get back-to-back foul outs and were one out away from getting out of the inning.
Following an intentional walk to load the bases, freshmen
Toni Bishop (Roseville, Minn./Roseville HS) singled up the middle, plating two runs to make it 3-0. Two batters later, pinch hitter
Marjaana Dailey (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) hit an infield single to drive in another run and extend the margin to 4-0.
The Yellowjackets got one run in the sixth, but that was it as the Saints took the first contest 4-1.
Mizera struck out five and scattered three hits to earn the complete game win. Bremer and Rydlund each had two hits to lead the CSS offense. The Saints finished with nine hits.
Game 2: CSS 9, UWS 1 (F/5)
The Saints kept the offense rolling in game two, scoring in every inning it batted, including a five-run second inning to complete the sweep with a 9-1 victory.
An error came back to sting the 'jackets in the first inning as a two-out single by Mizera brought in two unearned runs to give the Saints an early 2-0 lead.
St. Scholastica then opened up the game in the second inning with five runs coming across. Three of those five runs came on a
Hannah Borgeson (Woodville, Wis./Baldwin-Woodville HS) bases-clearing double with the bases loaded. Rydlund and Mizera also had RBIs in the inning.
The teams exchanged runs in the third and the Saints added another in the fourth when
Maggie Schley (Mounds View, Minn./Irondale HS) scored on a wild pitch. The Saints held UWS scoreless in the fifth to end the game early by mercy rule 9-1.
Vanessa Kohl (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) picked up the win, striking out three, allowing four hits in five innings of play.
Olivia Bretting (Ashland, Wis. /Ashland HS ) and O'Byrne each went 3-for-3 at the plate and scored twice. Borgeson and Mizera each had three RBIs.
Up Next
The Saints (15-11, 8-0 UMAC) will face Martin Luther College for a UMAC doubleheader at Kenwood Field on Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m.
