Huskies battle with No. 6 Winona State at NSIC Tourney

Saturday, May 4

Rochester, Minn.

10 a.m.

St. Cloud State

43-16

Winona State University

48-6

St. Cloud State

Winona State

Brooke Bowlin (left) and Jasmin Estrada (right) celebrate Bowlin's run in the top of the second against WSU.

Photo by: Kelsey Whaley

5/4/2019 12:19:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

ROCHESTER, MINN. – The St. Cloud State University softball team knew what the stakes were entering the final day of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) tournament. Beat the No. 6 Winona State University Warriors and advance one round closer to the championship game. Unfortunately, a win over the Warriors was not in the cards for the Huskies. Despite a hard fought battle, St. Cloud State fell to Winona State in an elimination game by a final score 4-2.

The Huskies gave the No. 6 team Warriors all it could handle, but Winona State's red hot offense was too much in the end. In fact, the Warriors took an early lead over St. Cloud State, as they scored three runs on three hits, including a home run by NSIC Player of the Year Lani Van Zyl, to take a 3-0 lead over the Huskies in the bottom of the first inning.

St. Cloud State wasn't about to be shutout a second time this season by nationally ranked Winona State, as the team went ahead and scored two runs in the top of the second to cut the lead to 3-2. Raven Vanden Langenberg (Seymour, Wis. / Seymour) and Brooke Bowlin (Chaska, Minn. / Holy Family) jump started the rally by reaching on a hit by pitch and walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. Cassie Francesconi (Schomberg, Ont. / Emily Carr Secondary) then seemingly sacrificed her at bat with a bunt, but an errant throw by the pitcher allowed Francesconi to reach base and Vanden Langenberg to score easily from second to cut the Warrior lead to 3-1.

One batter later, the Huskies cut the lead to 3-2, as Alexis Jacobs (Woodbury, Minn. / Woodbury) hit a sacrifice fly to score Bowlin from third. With the lead cut to one, St. Cloud State opted to put Lauren Kirchberg (Columbus, Wis. / Columbus) in on the mound to hold the Warriors bats at bay. The first year gave up just one hit, but Winona State scored on a Husky error to extend its lead to 4-2 after three innings.

St. Cloud State battled for the remaining four innings, the team put runners on in both the fourth and sixth innings to threaten the Warriors. In fact, the Huskies had their best chance to score in the top of the sixth, as Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield) reached on an infield single to put a runner at first with one out, prompting Paula U'Ren to put Sydney Trees (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) as a pinch runner. With Vanden Langenberg at the plate, it looked like St. Cloud State had momentum on its side, as she hit a scoring line drive toward the first base line. Winona State's first baseman, though, robbed the first year shortstop of a hit and got Trees out on a double play to end the Husky threat in the sixth.

Kirchberg sent the Warriors down in order in the bottom of the inning, giving St. Cloud State one last chance to rally in the top of the seventh. It looked like a rally might just happen, as Jacobs got hit by a pitch and Alexandra Pinkowski (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) squeaked out a two-out hit to put two runners on for Emmans. The senior put together an at bat of a life time, fouling off three pitches and just missed launching a home run to put St. Cloud State ahead for the first time all game. Sadly, it was not meant to be, as the senior struck out looking on a pitch low in the zone to end the rally for the Huskies.

Estrada was named to the NSIC All-Tournament Team for her performance during the three day tournament. The freshman DP recorded both the game-tying and game-winning hits against Concordia-St. Paul on Friday, helping the Huskies advance to the final day of the NSIC Tournament for the first time in program history. She was also one of three players to record hits against Winona State Saturday morning.

With the loss, St. Cloud State overall record falls to 43-16 and the team concludes the NSIC Tournament with a 3-2 record. The Huskies will wait until Monday morning to learn their fate, as they hope to be one of the teams selected for the NCAA Tournament. St. Cloud State was recently ranked eighth in the latest Central Region Rankings.