The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) softball team managed a combined four hits over two games as the St. Cloud State Huskies swept UMC in a pair of NSIC games played at Husky Stadium in St. Cloud.
GAME ONE – St. Cloud State used a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead before Taylor Graven (Soph., Greene, IA) settled in the circle keeping the Huskies’ bats quiet. In the top of the third inning managed to tie the game capitalizing off of a lead-off extra-base hit. Mikayla Jones (Sr., Huxley, IA) started the inning with a double before a groundout moved her to third base. A sacrifice fly out into center field off the bat of Hannah Macias (Fr., West Covina, CA) plated Jones from third base tying the game at 1-1 after three innings. St. Cloud State regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with back-to-back base hits setting up an RBI ground out followed by a passed ball plating two runs in the inning and pushing the Huskies’ lead to 3-1. St. Cloud State put the game away in the bottom of the sixth inning, converting six hits into six runs to close out a 9-1 run-rule victory.
| G1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
| UMC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| SCSU | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 0 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Taylor Graven – UMC | 2.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mikayla Jones – UMC | 2.2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Darian Pancirov – UMC | 0.1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
For UMC
Maggie Morales – 2-2
Mikayla Jones – 1-2, run
GAME TWO – St. Cloud State continued to swing the hot bat in game two. The Huskies started the bottom of the first inning with a one-out single before a second single plated the first run giving the Huskies a 1-0. Later in the inning, a double allowed two more Huskies to score pushing the host’s advantage to 3-0. A second straight double made it 4-0 after one inning of play. The Huskies loaded the bases to start the bottom of the third inning after a single and back-to-back walks. A line out to centerfield allowed one runner to score from third base followed by a single plating an additional run to give SCSU a 6-0 lead. A passed ball to the backstop scored one more run from third base as the Huskies’ lead grew to 7-0. A 2-RBI single made it 9-0 followed by an error at second base which pushed St. Cloud State’s lead to 10-0. The Huskies used two more RBI singles to close out the eight-run inning with a 12-0 lead going into the fourth frame. St. Cloud State added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, before St. Cloud State’s Sydney Lapoint (Fr., Green Bay, WI) allowed her first base runner of the game with a Samantha Proctor double ending the perfect game before UMC fell 14-0 in five innings.
Minnesota Crookston falls to 13-31 overall and 2-18 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to the diamond on Friday when they travel to Mankato for a doubleheader against Minnesota State starting at 1 p.m. St. Cloud State improves to 33-11 overall and 15-5 in NSIC play.
| G2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| UMC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| SCSU | 4 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 17 | 0 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Paige Pitlick – UMC | 2.1 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 4 |
| Taylor Graven – UMC | 1.0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mikayla Jones – UMC | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
For UMC
Samantha Proctor – 1-2, double (team’s only hit)
