ROCHESTER, Minn. - After winning two consecutive contests with clutch hits in the late stages of the game, Winona State carried significant momentum into their Friday afternoon matchup with the University of Minnesota Duluth. And experience. As in, experience winning games in crunch time, often with a freshman at the plate.
Enter
Sam Keller, a first-year Warrior who belted a double in the eighth inning, scoring pinch runner
Kayla Kerkman to beat the Bulldogs 2-1, and more importantly, advance to Saturday, May 15.
With the win, the Warriors will have the chance to play for the 2021 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Softball Championship, thanks in part to another freshman,
Teaghen Amwoza, who collected a game winning RBI just hours earlier in a 2-1 win over SMSU.
A tremendous softball game between two top teams saw both starting pitchers, UMD's Lauren Dixon and WSU's
Liz Pautz, retire batters with relative ease in the first two innings of the contest. Neither side put together multiple hits in any of the first five frames; however, the Warriors manufactured a run in the bottom of the third, when
Ann Smolenski was hit by a pitch, was bunted to second and then scored on a
Katie Kolb double, opening up a 1-0 Warrior advantage.
Another pivotal moment of the game came in the top of the sixth, when UMD worked runners to the corners and had Sidney Zavoral at the plate. However,
Jordyn Kleman, on in relief of Pautz, struck out the UMD designated player and ended the Bulldog threat.
The Warrior offense then fed off the energy in the bottom half of the stanza, with
Libby Neveau lining a leadoff double. However, WSU was unable to capitalize and found themselves, once again, heading into the final frame of a one-run ballgame.
UMD changed the game, for the time being anyway, with one swing of the bat in the seventh inning, as Lauren Oberle drove a 2-2 delivery over the fence for a solo home run, tying the game at 1-1. Winona State was unable to answer in the bottom of the seventh, drawing a walk but moving no further on the scoreboard.
The game went into extra innings, providing fans, families and followers, with some bonus softball, and with the season on the line for both teams. Kleman calmly retired the Bulldog side in order in the top of the eighth, including a strike out of Julia Gronholz to end the inning.
Senior and team leader
Alison Nowak stepped into the batter's box in the Warrior half of the eighth and drilled the first pitch she saw into left field, reaching second base with her second hit of the game. Head coach
Greg Jones called upon
Kayla Kerkman to pinch run for Nowak, and when
Sam Keller crushed a double to right center, Kerkman careened home into well-practiced Warrior walk-off celebration.
The dramatic 2-1 extra-inning ending was the third one-run win in a row for the Warriors and catapults them into Saturday.
UMD received a solid outing from Lauren Dixon, who went seven and one-third innings, conceding 6 hits and both runs.
Liz Pautz pitched a strong five and two-thirds, holding the Bulldogs to four hits, striking out eight and walking four.
Jordyn Kleman earned the win, her 23rd on the season, going two and one-third, giving up one hit and striking out three.
On Saturday, May 15, Winona State will get a second shot at St. Cloud State, with the two teams facing off at 10am. SCSU survived a 7-6 game against Sioux Falls to advance to the final day of the tournament.
Winona State sits at 36-11 overall and will play for the right to earn the 2021 NSIC Softball Championship tomorrow.
For the complete 2021 NSIC Softball Tournament Central homepage,
visit this link.
For the most up to date news in Warrior Athletics, please visit:
www.WINONASTATEWARRIORS.com and
@WinonaStateATH.
About Winona State University Athletics:
The Winona State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, as an integral part of the educational mission of the institution, is committed to offering opportunities to experience academic and athletic excellence for our student-athletes through two simple words:
Graduate Champions.
Fourteen Warrior programs compete at the NCAA Division II level within the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). Winona State University competes as an affiliate member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in the sport of women's gymnastics.
