Seniors guide Huskies to 8-0 victory over UW-Parkside

Sunday, February 3

St. Cloud, Minn.

10 a.m.

St. Cloud State

3-1

Parkside

0-2

Wis.-Parkside

St. Cloud State

Kate Kopeck tallied eight strikeouts in her one-hit win against UW-Parkside Sunday morning.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

2/3/2019 12:05:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – There are days in softball where everything just clicks. For the St. Cloud State University softball team, Sunday was one of those days. Thanks to a near-perfect performance by the starting pitcher and powerful displays at the plate, St. Cloud State cruised to a 8-0 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, completing the weekend with a 3-1 record at the Kelly Laas Invite.

It was an impressive display of offense, defense and pitching in the Husky Dome Sunday afternoon, as the Huskies scored eight runs on 10 hits in six innings of work while committing zero errors in the field. On the flip side, St. Cloud State's pitchers blanked the visiting Rangers and gave up just two hits while taking advantage of two fielding errors by UW-Parkside.

After a quiet first inning, in which the Huskies left two base runners stranded, the team unleashed for a five-run second with plenty of highlights to go around. Junior center fielder Cassie Francesconi (Schomberg, Ontario / Emily Carr Secondary School) kicked things off by drawing a lead off walk before advancing to third on a monster double by Megan Conrads (Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville South). Though Francesconi was called out the plate on a fielder's choice, both Conrads and Haley McFralane (Swisher, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie) scored on Raven Vaden Lagenberg's double over the left center fence to give St. Cloud State an early 2-0 lead.

The Huskies proceeded to tack on three more runs in the second, as Brooke Bowlin (Chaska, Minn. / Holy Family) made it 3-0 by scoring from third on an error by UW-Parkside's catcher. It was Morgan Emmans (Blaine, Minn. / Mounds Park Academy) who provided the highlight of the inning, though, as she took a pitch at the knees and sent it screaming over the left field fence for her second home run of the season. It also gave St. Cloud State a 5-0 advantage over the Rangers with potentially five innings remaining on the score sheet.

The Huskies were kept quiet in the third before scoring two runs in the fourth. This time, the RBI's came from freshmen Sydney Trees (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) and Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield). Though they both hit into fielder's choices, the hard ground balls to the short stop and second fielders allowed Vanden Lagenberg and Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville) to score from third with ease, extending St. Cloud State's lead to 7-0.

Again, the Huskies were held scoreless in the fifth, but the UW-Parkside pitcher and fielders were unable to hold the St. Cloud State hitters at bay in the sixth, as Trees provided the final RBI to clinch the 8-0 win. The first year lifted a pitch to deep left field for a double and Vanden Lagenberg scored easily from second to secure the 8-0 victory for the Huskies before the seventh inning.

While St. Cloud State's hitters were on fire, so was the team's starting pitcher Kate Kopeck (Lumsden, Sask. / Lumsden). The senior pitched four and two-third perfect innings before giving up a bloop hit to the Rangers three-hole hitter, taking away her chance at a no-no. Other than the one hit, Kopeck was absolutely flawless, as she struck out a season-high eight UW-Parkside batters, four of which were looking, in five innings to earn her second win of the season.

With the victory, the Huskies close the Kelly Laas Invite with a 3-1 overall record. St. Cloud State will return to action on Thursday, February 28 when the team hosts Bemidji State University in a nonconference doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.