SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Winona State softball team saw its bid for a third consecutive NSIC Tournament championship come to a quick end Thursday, falling to Upper Iowa 2-1 in eight innings and to Northern State 5-3 Thursday in soggy Sioux Falls, S.D.
GAME ONE: UIU 2, WSU 1
After rain soaked Sherman Park in Sioux Falls, the Warriors' opening game was pushed back and moved to Bowden Field on the campus of Augustana University.
In a game where all three runs came on home runs, the Warriors were on the losing end of the result. McKenna Larsen gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead on a solo shot to center field in the second inning, but Upper Iowa evened the score with a Katie Sammons home run in the fifth. Scoreless after seven innings, the Peacocks' Samantha Garrett hit a leadoff walk-off home run to center field in the bottom of the eighth to send WSU to the losers' bracket in the double-elimination tournament.
Larsen and Jamee Schleis had accounted for four of the Warriors' seven hits as a team.
Hanna Lythberg (17-10) pitched all seven innings, allowing seven hits with two runs and six strikeouts.
GAME TWO: NSU 5, WSU 3
The Warriors again found itself with an early deficit after NSU's Kelsey Gale produced a two-run single to right field in the top of the second. The Warriors cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth with a bases loaded walk drawn by Chelsey Rodenkirch, but a three-run fifth inning by the Wolves put a damper on WSU's comeback hopes.
WSU cut the lead to 5-2 with an RBI single by Natalie Kalmes in the bottom of the fifth and a Paige Keegan home run helped WSU's cause in the seventh but the Warriors were unable to get closer as WSU was eliminated from the tournament with a 5-3 defeat.
The Warriors outhit the Wolves 11-6, including a 3-for-3 effort from McKenna Larsen and two hits apiece from Keegan, Kalmes and Allyson O'Herron.
Winona State (35-17), ranked No. 8 in the latest NCAA Central Region Rankings, will find out its NCAA Tournament fate Monday at 9 a.m. with the NCAA selection show on NCAA.com.
