WINONA, Minn. – The No. 22 Winona State softball team remained perfect in conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Concordia-St. Paul Wednesday at Alumni Field in Winona.
The Warriors, who jumped back into the nation's top 25 Wednesday, used a four-run fourth inning to provide all the offense it needed for a 4-1 win in the opener before collecting 12 hits in a 9-0 four-and-a-half inning game two victory.
WSU and the Golden Bears were in a tight pitchers' battle through the first three innings as the two teams remained scoreless while mustering just three hits combined – including a single apiece for Lexi Perez and McKenna Larsen. But the Warriors broke through in the fourth inning as a one-out right field double by Morgan Lintz set the table for Larsen to produce an RBI single and put the Warriors up 1-0.
Later in the inning Larsen scored on a fielding error with the bases loaded to make it 2-0 and sophomore Evie Schaller came through with a pinch hit single to center field that plated Natalie Kalmes and Allyson O'Herron. When the inning was over, 10 Warriors had batted and WSU had taken a 4-0 lead and all the run support they would need for Ashley Walker.
Walker would give up a solo home run in the fifth inning as the lone blemish on an otherwise stellar outing in the circle. The senior went the distance, surrendering just three hits and the one run while striking out a pair in seven innings of work to improve to 13-3 on the season.
The Warriors made quick work of Concordia in game two, using the long ball to jump out to an early lead and scoring in every inning en route to a 9-0 runaway victory that WSU won in just four and a half innings.
Walker got the offense started with a first inning home run to center field – her second of the season – to put WSU up 1-0. The Warriors added another run in the second when Kalmes also went deep to center for her team-leading sixth bomb of the year.
WSU would pour it on from there, as Lintz produced a 2 RBI single to score Walker and Reed Karsten for a 4-0 lead. Later in the third inning, O'Herron singled down the left field line to bring home Lintz and open up a 5-0 WSU lead. Lintz recorded another RBI in the fourth, using a left field single that scored Karsten to begin a four-run inning. Larsen – whose season batting average continued its climb to .370 – kept the bats alive with a double to center field to score Lintz and Walker and O'Herron capped off the scoring with an RBI single to right field to give WSU a commanding 9-0 lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Hanna Lythberg was in command throughout the game, improving to 15-3 on the season after tossing a complete game five-inning shutout with just 60 pitches while scattering only three hits and fanning four Golden Bear batters.
Winona State pushes its record to 30-7 – the program's 14th straight season of at least 30 wins – with a 12-0 mark in league play.
The No. 22 Warriors are back in action this weekend, closing out a 10-game homestand with a pair of doubleheaders against the University of Mary and Minot State beginning at 12 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at Alumni Field.
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