MANKATO, Minn. – The Gustavus softball team split a pair of games at the MSU-Mankato Dome to open the second weekend of the Bethany Lutheran Kwik Trip Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 22.
The Gusties defeated Northwestern-St. Paul (1-3 overall) 4-3 before falling to UW-La Crosse Saturday evening.
Gustavus 4, Northwestern-St. Paul 3
Northwestern scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning, as an RBI single to short scored an Eagle who had reached on a one-out single to center field. UNW held the lead until
Breck Carlson (So., North Mankato, Minn.) evened the score at one apiece in the bottom of the second. Carlson scored
Paige Gritzmaker (Fy., Woodbury, Minn.), who reached via a double to left center.
The Gusties took their first lead of the game in the fourth, as Carlson led the inning off with a single to left field. An RBI triple to right field from
Olivia Guggenberger (Jr., Rosemount, Minn.) scored Carlson for a 2-1 Gustie lead.
The Eagles evened things once more in the top of the fifth with an RBI single, but Gritzmaker sent a triple down the right field line to score
Caitlin Olafsson (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.), who singled up the middle to get on base in the bottom of the inning.
Carlson scored the eventual game-winning run, as an Eagle error brought the shortstop home for a 4-2 advantage for the Gusties. UNW scored its final run on a fielder's choice RBI, but
Ava Hamsund (So., Winona, Minn.) closed the game with a swinging strikeout for the Gustie win.
Carlson finished 3-for-3 with a pair of runs and an RBI, while Gritzmaker was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Hamsund pitched the full game, allowing just one earned run of eight hits. Hamsund also struck out four batters in 33 faced.
Gustavus 2, UW-La Crosse 8
UW-La Crosse (3-1 overall) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to an RBI triple and a pair of home runs.
An RBI groundout from
Greta Dahlen (Sr., West Des Moines, Iowa) plated
Taylor Katzenmeyer (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) to put the Gusties on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning, but the Eagles responded with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning and tacked on two more – thanks to a double steal and an unearned run – in the sixth.
Guggenberger tripled to start the seventh inning and scored on a two-out, RBI groundout off the bat of Olafsson to end the scoring.
Dahlen led the Gusties, going 2-for-3 from the plate with an RBI, while
Kayla Herda (Sr., Farmington, Minn.),
Lauren Lambert (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.), Gritzmaker, and Guggenberger each totaled a hit against UWL.
Maizie Anderson (Jr., Rosemount, Minn.) allowed four runs on four hits with three strikeouts in two innings for the loss.
Hailey Petzel (Fy., Mankato, Minn.) came on in relief and surrendered two runs on three hits in three innings of work, while
Megan Sherwood (So., Greenfield, Minn.) gave up the final two runs – one earned – in the seventh.
The Gusties (3-3 overall) return to the dome tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 23) for games against Luther (Iowa) at 1 p.m. and Minnesota-Morris at 3:30 p.m.
