ROCHESTER, Minn. – Another day, another game-changing grand slam.
Winona State softball standout
Carly Engelhardt crushed a Katie Bracken delivery over the outfield fence with bases loaded to vault the Warriors to a 6-2 lead in a matchup of two regionally ranked teams facing off in day two of the NSIC Softball Tournament.
On Thursday, WSU battled back to beat Concordia, St. Paul on a
Libby Neveau grand slam, narrowly defeating the Golden Bears 8-7 in comeback fashion.
Friday, Engelhardt entered the batter's box facing Minnesota State's All-America pitcher Mackenzie Ward with the bases loaded. She left the batters box jogging around the bases with her fist in the air celebrating her grand slam after MSU made a pitching change in the middle of Engelhardt's at bat. Engelhardt, a sophomore from Oswego, Ill., proceeded to drive reliever Braken's 2-1 delivery out of the park, igniting the Warriors and quieting the Maverick fan section. In addition to Engelhardt providing Bracken with a Warrior welcome to the game, she became the second Winona State batter to homer with the bases loaded in the 2022 NSIC Softball Tournament.
Unlike Thursday however, Winona State kept going, with Neveau notching her second home run of the tournament moments after Engelhart's blast, moving the score to 7-2 in favor of the Warriors. One inning later, WSU added an insurance run with
Rylee Stout doubling down the left field line, scoring
Abbie Hlas who had singled, improving the scoreboard to 8-2 in favor of Winona State.
MSU had scored the opening two runs of the contest on a collection of three singles and a walk to take a 2-0 lead after two frames. Overall in the contest, the Mavericks notched two runs on eight hits and did not commit an error.
After Ward was pulled in the fifth inning, MSU used both Bracken and McKayla Armbruster in the circle. The Maverick trio combined to allow eight hits, eight earned runs while striking out ten Warriors.
In contrast,
Liz Pautz earned her 25th win of the season by throwing a complete game, scattering eight hits over seven innings and allowing two runs, both earned. Pautz had seven strikeouts in the game moving her to 786 all-time in her career and the strong outing was her 55th complete game.
Winona State advances to play Augustana University with a scheduled start of 4 p.m. in their final contest of day two. The Warriors will also play on Saturday, either at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m.
For complete 2022 NSIC Softball Tournament information, including bracket, schedule, live stats and more,
go to this link.
