The Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs took an early lead and cruised to an 11-2 victory over the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Softball team in game one of a Northern Sun Conference doubleheader played on a beautiful day in Crookston.
GAME ONE
Southwest led off the game with back-to-back doubles for a quick 1-0 lead. The Mustangs added another run on a ground out and led 2-0 after the first inning.
In the top of the second inning, the first two Southwest batters were retired, but the next two batters doubled and singled to score another run for a 3-0 lead.
UMC got on the board in the bottom of the inning when Samanta Gutierrez (Fresh. Riverside, CA) walked with one out and Leah Macias (Jr. West Covina, CA) singled to put runners at first and second. Sarah Velasquez (Fresh. Chino, CA) hit a ground ball that deflected off the glove of the diving Mustang shortstop and it deflected into right-center field for a double that scored two runs and the Golden Eagles trailed 3-2.
Nobody scored in the third inning, but Southwest started to time the Golden Eagle pitching and they hit the ball hard throughout the inning. After a strikeout, a Mustang reached on an error, which was followed by a single and a two rbi double for a 5-2 lead. The next batter crushed the next pitch over the left-field fence for a two-run home run for a 7-2 lead.
Southwest added four more runs in the top of the fifth inning with a one-out single. After a UMC pitching change, the next batter struck out before a Mustang was hit by a pitch, followed by a single to score a run. The next Mustang batter hit a three-run home run for an 11-2 lead.
UMC was retired in 1-2-3 fashion in the bottom of the fifth inning and Southwest won the game 11-2 in a run-rule shortened game.
UMC was led by Leah Macias who was 2 for 2 at the plate with a run scored.
FOR THE GAME ONE BOX SCORE, CLICK HERE
GAME TWO
Neither team scored in the first inning, but Southwest started the second inning with a lead-off walk. After a groundout, the runner advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Back-to-back singles drove in the first run of the game for a 1-0 lead.
Southwest started the third inning reaching on an error, but that runner was later thrown out at home. The Mustangs had back-to-back singles, followed by a double to score a run for a 2-0 lead. UMC switched pitchers and the next Southwest batter singled in two runs for a 4-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Southwest reached on another UMC error, which was followed by a double. After an out, the Mustangs had back-to-back rbi singles for a 6-0 lead. UMC finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning when Cassey Querry (Sr. Cassville, PA) hit a solo homerun. The next two batters flew out. Hannah Macias (Jr. West Covina, CA) started a two-out rally with a single, Dana Zarn (Soph. Winnipeg, Manitoba) singled and Rachel Jones (Fresh. Fort Collins, CO) singled to score two runs and UMC trailed 6-3.
Southwest answered in the top of the fifth inning with a single, the next batter reached on another UMC error. The Mustangs had another single to load the bases. After an out, Southwest singled in a run before UMC committed their second error of the inning to allow another run to score. The next Mustang batter reached on the third UMC error of the inning that allowed two more runs to score and Southwest led 10-3.
UMC led off the bottom of the fifth inning with an Alina Avalos (Soph. Riverside, CA) home run to get within a 10-4 deficit.
Neither team scored the rest of the game and Southwest hung on to win the game 10-4 to complete the sweep. UMC committed seven errors in the game.
Offensively, UMC was led by Cassie Querry who was 3 for 3 with a run and a rbi in the game.
UMC drops to 5-15 on the year. Southwest Minnesota State improves to 15-6 on the year.
