Huskies split in Friday twinbill with Upper Iowa

Friday, April 19

Fayette, IA

1 p.m.

St. Cloud State

34-11, 16-5

Upper Iowa University

20-16, 12-9

St. Cloud State

Upper Iowa

Brooke Bowlin broke Abby Bunnell's record for single-season stolen bases in the seventh inning of game one against Upper Iowa.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

4/19/2019 7:37:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

FAYETTE, IOWA – The St. Cloud State University softball team has spent the last 18 days playing in the comforts of the Husky Dome, hunkering down from the lingering winter on the state of Minnesota. For the first time in, what feels like, forever, the Huskies were finally able to get outside, as they faced the red-hot Upper Iowa Peacocks in Fayette, Iowa Friday afternoon. For the first time in four Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) doubleheaders, St. Cloud State was forced to settle for a split, as the Huskies took game one 6-2 before falling in game two by a final score of 9-4.

St. Cloud State opened the doubleheader just as it wanted, as the team won its twelfth game in a row thanks to a four-run fourth inning. The Huskies did, though, have to overcome a two-run deficit, as they fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the third. In that inning, the Peacocks managed three singles off St. Cloud State ace Kate Kopceck (Lumsden, Sask. / Lumsden) to take the early 2-0 lead.

Upper Iowa left too much time for the Huskies to come back, as they answered by scoring their first run of the ball game in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 2-1. Alexandra Pinkowski (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) reached on an error by the Peacocks second baseman and advanced to third on the very same error. She then scored on a sacrifice fly to deep left center by Morgan Emmans (Blaine, Minn. / Mounds Park Academy) go give the Huskies their first run of the game.

Of course, St. Cloud State wasn't satisfied with just the one run, as the team tied it up in the top of the sixth thanks to Brooke Bowlin (Chaska, Minn. / Holy Family) and Alexis Jacobs (Woodbury, Minn. / Woodbury). Bowlin reached first thanks to an infield single then used her speed to steal second and tie Abby Bunnell's record for single-season bases before scoring with ease thanks to Jacobs RBI single to even the score at 2-2.

Kopeck kept the Peacocks off the board in the bottom of the sixth, allowing the Huskies to score four runs in the top of the seventh to take a definitive 6-2 lead. Emmans lead things off with a double to center field before Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville) walked to put runners on the corners with no outs. Emmans and Keating were both brought home during Megan Conrads (Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville South) at bat as their runs gave St. Cloud State its first lead of the afternoon at 4-2.

The Huskies then tacked on two more unearned runs, as Bowlin tallied an RBI to score Conrads before being hit in by Raven Vanden Langenberg (Seymour, Wis. / Seymour) to boost the lead to 6-2. That proved to be enough for Kopeck and Sydney LaPoint (Green Bay, Wis. / Bayport), as they sent Upper Iowa's batters down in order to secure the 6-2 victory.

Keating, Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield) and Emmans were the top hitters in game one for St. Cloud State. Keating and Estrada both tallied two hits for the Huskies, as Keating went 2-3 with a run and Estrada was 2-4 with a double. Emmans was 1-2 with both a run and RBI for St. Cloud State. A little history was made on the bases in game one as well, as Bowlin not only tied Bunnell's single-season record but broke it as well. Her stolen base in the top of the seventh inning not only put a runner in scoring position, but also counted as her 34th stolen base of the 2019 season, breaking the previous record of 33 set in 2017.

Sadly things did not go as well for the Huskies in game two, as they fell in an early 4-0 deficit after the first inning. Still, St. Cloud State fought valiantly, as the team managed to score a run in the top of the second and one in the third to cut the lead to 4-2. Unfortunately, the Peacocks seemed to have an answer for every run the Huskies scored, as they scored two runs in the third to extend their lead to 6-2 before scoring two more in the fourth to make it 8-2.

St. Cloud State did score two runs in the top of the fifth, but the damage was already done, as Upper Iowa went on to win by a final score of 9-4.

Keating continued to stay hot at the plate, as she went 2-4 with one run for the Huskies.

With the split, St. Cloud State's overall record improves to 34-12 and the team is 16-6 in NSIC play. The Huskies will continue their road trip on Saturday when they take on No. 17 Winona State University at 1 and 3 p.m. in Winona, Minnesota.