ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The Gustavus softball team ended a week that featured four doubleheaders in six days with a split at Bethel. Bethel (11-14, 5-5 MIAC) walked off a low-scoring, eight-inning game one 3-2, while the Gustie bats came alive in a lopsided 11-0 five-inning win in game two.
Gustavus 2, Bethel 3 (8 inn.)
Game one was very clearly a pitching dual between
Ava Hamsund (So., Winona, Minn.) and Bethel's Dominique Walicke, who each went the distance into extra innings. Bethel scored the first run of the game in the fifth inning, with the Gusties responding with one each in both the seventh and the eighth, but a costly fielding error scored the two-out game-winner.
Back-to-back doubles brought in the first run for the Royals in the fifth.
Caitlin Olafsson (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.) led the seventh off with a one-pitch double to left center, and was brought home in the next at-bat by
Paige Gritzmaker (Fy., Woodbury, Minn.), who singled to center.
With
Macy McNally (So., Winona, Minn.) placed on second to start the extra innings,
Kayla Herda (Sr., Farmington, Minn.) advanced her to third, while classmate
Greta Dahlen (West Des Moines, Iowa) brought her home on an RBI ground-out. A fielding error and walk put runners on first and second for the Gusties, but a lineout to right center stranded both on base.
Bethel evened the score at two apiece off an RBI single up the middle. A pair of free passes loaded the bases, followed by an infield fly. Needing just one out to force another extra, a fielding error in the infield scored the runner on third to end the game.
Hamsund finished allowing one earned run on seven hits in 7.2 innings of work. She struckout one and allowed five free passes (four walks and a hit-by-pitch). Gritzmaker finished as the team leader at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Olafsson, McNally, and Taylor Katzemeyer (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) accounted for the other three Gustie hits.
Gustavus 11, Bethel 0 (5 inn.)
The Gusties (17-11, 7-3 MIAC) forced their second run-rule game of the weekend, scoring a pair of runs in the fourth and an outburst of nine in the fifth, while
Maizie Anderson (Jr., Rosemount, Minn.) pitched the complete game shutout.
McNally drilled a two-out single up the middle to get the Gusties on the board in game two for a 2-0 lead in the fourth.
The fifth inning featured nine runs off six hits and one Bethel error, as well as eight free passes and a pair of pitching changes. After a quick out, the Gusties bat through the line-up, as the next three batters reached via consecutive walks. Gritzmaker singled to score the first, followed by a bases-loaded walk and two more RBI singles off the bats of
Breck Carlson (So., North Mankato, Minn.) and McNally.
Herda walked to re-load the bases, followed by a single from Dahlen to score the eighth run of the inning, enough to end the game early. The Royals nabbed their second out on a fielder's choice, but RBI singles from
Carly Olson (So., Luverne, Minn.) and Olafsson, as well as a wild pitch, gave the Gusties three insurance runs heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Anderson ended the game with a trio of quick outs, two of which were line-outs to Olafsson at second, followed by a fly-out to right.
Anderson allowed just one hit and one free pass (a walk) in the five-inning shutout, while striking out three. McNally was 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI, while Dahlen and Carlson totaled two hits apiece, and four others chipped in one to the 11 total.
The Gusties travel to Macalester (19-9, 6-4 MIAC) on Wednesday, April 16, before hosting St. Scholastica (5-18, 1-6 MIAC) for Senior Day on Saturday (April 19)
