Huskies stave off elimination, advance to Saturday

Friday, May 3

Rochester, Minn.

10 a.m.

St. Cloud State

42-15

University of Sioux Falls (S.D.)

24-30

Sioux Falls

St. Cloud State

Teammates mob Alexis Jacobs after her walk off single in the Huskies 6-5 win over Sioux Falls.

Photo by: Kelsey Whaley

5/3/2019 4:44:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

ROCHESTER, MINN. – St. Cloud State University softball fans have heard it said time and time again this 2019 season: when the 'Skies are hot, they are real hard to stop.

It's safe to say right now, the Huskies are very very hot.

Using offensive firepower and clutch hitting, St. Cloud State advanced to the third and final day of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Tournament thanks to two close wins over the University of Sioux Falls and Concordia-St. Paul. It took 10 innings, but the Huskies took down the Cougars 6-5 in game one before coming back to take down the Golden Bears 5-3 in game two.

The Huskies wasted no time scoring the first run of the game against Sioux Falls, as they scored three on Cougar starter Courtney Miller to take a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Morgan Emmans (Blaine, Minn. / Mounds Park Academy) led things off with a walk and advanced to second thanks to a perfect sacrifice bunt by Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville), setting up Raven Vanden Langenberg (Seymour, Wis. / Seymour) to bring her around with an RBI walk. However, St. Cloud State wasn't satisfied with just the one run, as the team tacked on three more thanks to an RBI single from Cassie Francesconi (Schomberg, Ont. / Emily Carr Secondary).

Souix Falls cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the second, as back-to-back doubles by Frankie Mickleson and Lexi Swift helped the Cougars score their first run of the ball game off Husky starter Sydney LaPoint (Green Bay, Wis. / Bay Port). Initially, it proved to be no harm, no foul, as the Huskies scored another run in the bottom of the second thanks to Emmans and Conrads. Emmans reached with a single down the left field line and scored on a RBI single from Conrads to extend the lead to 4-1.

LaPoint kept Sioux Falls off the board in the third, allowing St. Cloud State to add another run in the bottom of the inning to go ahead 5-1. Alexis Jacobs (Woodbury, Minn. / Woodbury) delivered the RBI this time, as she laced a line drive over the shortstop's head to score Vanden Langenberg.

Things were rolling for the Huskies until the top of the sixth inning, when the Cougars scored four runs on three hits, including a three-run home run, to even the score at 5-5. However, St. Cloud State still had the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings to regain the lead. Sadly, it just wasn't meant to be, as the Huskies were unable to score in the bottom of the seventh sending the game to extras.

Lauren Kirchberg (Columbus, Wis. / Columbus) pitched a perfect top of the eighth, and Brooke Bowlin (Chaska, Minn. / Holy Family) led off the bottom of the inning with a bunt single to put a runner on first with no outs for the Huskies. The speedy left fielder, though, was stranded at third, as St. Cloud State would hit into three straight groundouts to end the inning.

It was in the bottom of the tenth when the Huskies would finally prevail for the 6-5 victory. Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield) reached base on an error by Souix Falls' Emily Hove, prompting head coach Paula U'Ren to put in Sydney Trees (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) for some speed on the bases. In the end, that move would pay off, as Trees advanced to second on a bunt single from Vanden Langenberg to put runners at first and second with zero outs for St. Cloud State.

It looked like the Huskies might end the inning empty handed, as Bowlin and Francesconi both flew out to the outfield for outs one and two, bringing Jacobs to the plate with two outs. The junior third baseman certainly delivered, as she hit a line drive straight up the middle, allowing Trees to easily score the game winning run from second.

After the 6-5, extra innings win over Sioux Falls, St. Cloud State was looking for a nice quick win over Concordia-St. Paul in yet another elimination game in the NSIC Tournament. Like in the second game of the day on Thursday, the Huskies had some ground to cover after the top of the first, as the Golden Bears took an early 1-0 lead with two hits off senior Bradi Yost (Parkersburg, Iowa / Aplington-Parkersburg).

St. Cloud State had the perfect answer in the bottom of the inning, as the team scored two runs to take a 2-1 lead over Concordia-St. Paul. Emmans, as she usually does, kicked things off with a leadoff walk and Keating reached on a base hit bunt to put runners on first and second with no outs. U'Ren then opted to bunt the two into scoring position, putting runners on second and third for the red-hot Estrada, who did what she does best. The first year power lefty laced a double to deep left field, allowing Emmans and Keating to score with ease to give the Huskies their 2-1 lead.

The Golden Bears knotted things up at 2-2 in the top of the third and eventually took a 3-2 lead in the fourth, again with two-out singles against Yost and Kate Kopeck (Lumsden, Sask. / Lumsden). The Huskies, though, weren't about to go down without a fight, as they again used timely hitting to tie things up and eventually take their definitive 5-3 lead.

It was the usual suspects and some youth and helped St. Cloud State take down upset minded Concordia-St. Paul. Jacobs stayed hot, as she delivered the two-out, RBI single tie things up at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth. It was a first year that then provided the game-winning hit. With two-outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the fifth, Estrada hit a bomb off the center field fence, allowing Keating to score the game winning run and put the Huskies up 4-3. Vanden Langenberg then added an insurance run, as her single up the middle allowed Estrada to slide in at home to give St. Cloud State a 5-3 advantage.

From there, Kopeck shut down the Golden Bears offense, as she struck out six straight batters and pitched a flawless seventh inning to clinch her 18^th win of the season for the Huskies. The senior gave up one run on three hits in her four innings of work while tallying seven strikeouts.

Keating and Estrada were the top hitters for St. Cloud State in game two, as they both tallied multi-hit games for the Huskies. Keating was 3-3 with two runs while Estrada was 2-3 with two runs and 2 RBI for St. Cloud State.

With the wins, the Huskies overall record improves to 42-15 and they advance to the final day of the NSIC Tournament for the first time since joining the conference in 2009. St. Cloud State will face the winner of Winona State and Minnesota-Duluth at 10 a.m. on Field A at the RYFSA Complex in Rochester, Minnesota.