sports

UMC SOFTBALL SWEPT IN DOUBLEHEADER BY MSU-MOORHEAD

April 5, 2019

The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) softball team dropped a pair of games to MSU-Moorhead falling in game one 7-3 and game two 14-5 in two NSIC games played at the UMC Softball Field.

GAME ONE – In the top of the second inning, Minnesota State-Moorhead scored the first runs of the game. The Dragons led off the inning with a double down the right field line followed by a walk before a three-run home run was driven over the fence giving MSU-Moorhead a 3-0 heading into the bottom of the second inning. In the bottom of the second inning, Mikaela Rodriguez (Jr., Laveen, AZ) reached on an infield single before stealing second base. Hannah Macias (Fr., West Covina, CA) doubled into left field to score Rodriguez trimming Minnesota Crookston’s deficit down to 3-1 going into the third inning. The Dragons led off the third inning with a walk and bunt for a base hit before a ground out moved the base runners to second and third base. A single loaded the bases before a sacrifice fly into right field plated MSU-Moorhead’s fourth run of the game. A ground out stranded two runners in scoring position but the Dragons took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the third inning. Minnesota Crookston took one run back in the bottom of the third inning as Rocky Bjorge (Sr., Prior Lake) singled up the middle with the bases loaded plating Tavia Lawson (Soph., Hawley) cutting UMC’s deficit down to 4-2 after three innings. Hannah Macias (Fr., West Covina, CA) singled through the right side of the infield to get one runner on base for the Golden Eagles in the bottom of the fourth inning. A single hit by Samantha Proctor (Jr., Champlin) moved Macias to second base before a fielder’s choice allowed Macias to score from second base trimming UMC’s deficit down to 4-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. The Dragons started the top of the fifth inning with three straight hits before a single up the middle scored two more runs for MSU-Moorhead pushing the visitor’s lead to 6-3. MSU-Moorhead added one more run off of a pair of hits in the top of the seventh inning claiming a 7-3 into the final half-inning. With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Rocky Bjorge singled into centerfield before Malia Pula (Jr., Gilroy, CA) doubled to right center field putting runners on second and third base. An infield pop-up was the second out of the inning before a groundout hit to MSU-Moorhead’s pitcher ended UMC’s rally as the Dragons secured a 7-3 win in game one. “We just didn’t have that clutch hit,” explained UMC head coach Travis Owen. “We had a lot of runners on which is a good thing, we just need to step up and get that big hit and if we do that I think we win that game.”

G1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
MSUM	0	3	1	0	2	0	1	7	15	2
UMC	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	3	9	0

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Taylor Graven – UMC	4.1	10	6	6	2	4
Mikayla Jones – UMC	2.2	5	1	1	0	1

For UMC
Hannah Macias – 2-3, RBI, run, double
Rocky Bjorge – 2-3, RBI, walk

GAME TWO – In the top of the first inning, MSU-Moorhead used an RBI single through the left side of the infield giving the Dragons a 1-0 lead. Rocky Bjorge (Sr., Prior Lake) singled to right field plating Jordan Peterson (Soph., Lakeville) from third base tying the game at 1-1 for Minnesota Crookston after one inning. In the top of the second inning, MSU-Moorhead put runners on first and second base before an error in right field allowed to runners to score and the batter to advance to third base as the Dragons take a 3-1 lead. A double to center field plated the third run of the inning before another infield single scored a runner from third base giving the visitors a 5-1 lead. In the top of the third inning, MSU-Moorhead added to their lead. A double to left field scored one run before a double down the left field line pushed the Dragons in front 8-1. A single into right field pushed the Dragons in from 9-1 before a double up the middle scored two more runs pushing MSU-Moorhead’s lead to 11-1. In the bottom of the third inning, Minnesota Crookston got two runs back when Hannah Macias (Fr., West Covina, CA) homered to centerfield trimming the Golden Eagles deficit down to 11-3 after three innings. MSU-Moorhead added another run to their lead with a sacrifice fly to left field pushing the Dragons ahead 12-3. In the bottom of the fourth inning, M. Rodriguez singled to right field to start the inning before H. Strachan singled to center field allowing Rodriguez to advance to second base. Samantha Proctor singled to left field loading the bases for H. Macias who singled up the middle plating two runs and slicing Minnesota Crookston’s deficit down to 12-5. MSU-Moorhead added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning to clinch a run-rule victory after six innings winning 14-5. “We dug ourselves a bit of a hole there and our pitchers didn’t have their best stuff,” said Owen, “but a positive out of that game was we didn’t give up at the plate and we know that we can hit. We just have to overcome those things with our offense when we have some tough times with our pitching or defensively because we know that we can do it.”

Minnesota Crookston drops to 12-22 overall and 1-9 in NSIC play. The Golden Eagles return to the diamond on Saturday when UMC hosts Northern State for a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.

G2	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
MSUM	1	4	6	1	0	2	14	19	1
UMC	1	0	2	2	0	0	5	9	2

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Paige Pitlick – UMC	2.0	8	5	5	0	1
Darian Pancirov – UMC	0.0	3	4	4	0	0
Mikayla Jones – UMC	1.0	3	3	3	3	1
Taylor Graven – UMC	2.1	4	2	2	2	0