ST. PAUL, Minn. –
Abby Smith threw her first career no-hitter in the circle for Winona State as the Warriors defeated Concordia-St. Paul 18-14 and 9-0 in today's doubleheader.
In a day where WSU displayed their offensive explosiveness, Smith stole the show with a no-hitter in the second game. Smith faced the minimum of 18 batters in the Warriors 9-0 run-rule victory in a six-inning ballgame. Allowing just one walk and one hit batter, Smith worked through the 18 CSP batters in just 69 pitches while collecting three strikeouts.
Game One: Winona State 18, Concordia-St. Paul 14
In a back-and-forth contest, WSU opened the game with two runs before CSP stepped up to the plate. The Golden Bears quickly answered with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to re-gain the lead.
The Warriors put up five runs in the top of the second, highlighted by an
Abbie Hlas two-run home run and a
Libby Neveau two-run homer. CSP once again answered back, scoring four in the second to tied the game up at seven apiece after two.
A run in the third and another in the fourth gave Winona State another short-lived lead as CSP collected four tallies on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth.
A four-run fifth inning gave Winona State the lead for good as they went ahead 13-11. WSU added five more runs in the seventh, once again highlighted by a Neveau home run to give WSU an 18-11 lead heading into the bottom of the final inning.
CSP scored three in the 7th but Winona State shut the door and earned the 18-14 victory.
Abbie Hlas started in the circle for WSU but lasted just 1.1 innings after allowing seven runs on six hits.
Skyler Calmes came on in relief, pitching the final 5.2 innings to earn the win with a final stat line of seven runs on eight hits with four strikeouts.
Offensively, Winona State racked up 17 hits with five different players notching multi-hit games.
Carly Engelhardt went 4-for-5 to lead WSU in hits. Neveau tallied six RBI while Hlas and Engelhardt each drove in four runs.
Erica McCullogh started for the Golden Bears and Kristi Pilz took the loss in a relief appearance. Jacey Defries, Avery Johnson, and Sydney Pelzer each collected three hits for CSP.
Game Two: Winona State 9, Concordia-St. Paul 0
After an offensive outburst by both teams in the first game,
Abby Smith tamed the Golden Bears by not allowing any hits and used nine runs from the WSU batters to pick up the six-inning no-hitter.
Logan Anderson hit a three-run shot to left field to open the scoring for WSU, giving the Warriors a 3-0 lead in the second. Anderson then drove in another runner in the third to extend the Warrior lead to 4-0.
Winona State scored five more in the sixth, including a Neveau grand slam. Neveau's four-run homer was her third home run on the day as she collected 10 total RBI across the two games.
The Warrior defense turned a double play to end the game which earned Smith her first career no-hitter. The WSU fielding was stellar in game two, collecting three force outs and 10 ground outs to help Smith complete the no-hitter.
Neveau, Anderson, and
Cammi Riemer each collected two hits for WSU as Neveau and Anderson drove in four runs apiece.
Bryanna Olson took the loss in the circle for the Golden Bears, pitching 5.1 innings and allowing nine runs on nine hits.
The Warriors improve to 28-9 overall and 11-1 in the NSIC after today's sweep. Winona State travels to St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth for a pair of important doubleheaders this weekend.
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.
