WINONA, Minn. – After a 13-0 game one drubbing of Minnesota State University Moorhead which preceded a celebration of Winona State's seniors, sophomore Jordyn Kleman tossed the second perfect game in program history in an 8-0 victory.
Kleman struck out 11 Dragons in the five-inning affair for her second no-hitter of the season and fifth of her young Warrior career.
No. 7 Winona State improves to 39-5 (18-2 NSIC) with the sweep and is now one win away from claiming the outright NSIC regular season championship. The Warriors conclude the regular season on Sunday against regionally-ranked Northern State.
Kleman (17-1) was nearly untouchable in the finale of Saturday's doubleheader as she only allowed four balls to be put into play. The hardest hit Dragon ball of the contest came a long fly ball down the left field line that McKenna Larsen chased down on a great play near the fence in the first inning.
Kleman padded her NSIC-leading strikeout total to 128 on Saturday as the right-hander struck out the side in two frames and recorded at least two punchouts in four of the five innings played. It marked her third double-digit strikeout game of the season and ninth of her WSU career.
Alison Nowak went 3-for-3 with three RBI in the finale and drove in the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the first inning. After a scoreless second frame, the Warriors plated three runs in each of their final two offensive innings.
Nowak's RBI-double sparked a rally in the third inning and Larsen followed with a sacrifice fly to pad the Winona lead to 4-0. Senior Paige Keegan added a two-out RBI-single to stretch the lead to 5-0 before the inning came to an end.
Katelyn Kolb led off the fourth frame with a double to deep center field and came around to score on a pair of wild pitches. Two batters later, Lani Van Zyl doubled and scored on an RBI-single by Nowak. Senior Jamee Schleis drove home the final run of the ballgame with a two-out single.
In game one, Winona State scored early and often. Larsen helped her own cause in the pitching circle with a two-run double in the bottom of the first which proved to be all the run support she would need. However, the Warrior bats exploded for 11 runs in the second inning just for good measure.
Winona State sent 16 batters to the plate and recorded eight hits and drew three walks in the bottom of the second. Van Zyl doubled twice and drove in five runs alone in the inning. Kolb, Nowak, Schleis, along with seniors Samantha McLean and Mariah Schultz each drove in at least one run as the Warriors blew the game wide open.
On her senior day, Larsen continued to chisel away at the WSU record book. The southpaw improved to 14-4 on the season with her 18th career shutout which is tied for third most all-time. In the circle she improved to 52-13 in her Warrior career and her 141 RBI at the plate rank seventh all-time after Larsen drove in three total runs on Saturday.
Winona State will look to claim not only the NSIC Championship on Sunday, but tally its 12th 40-win season in program history – each coming under head coach Greg Jones. First pitch of the final doubleheader of the regular season is slated for 1 p.m. with Northern State at Maynard R. Johnson Field in Winona.
