Huskies come up short in Regional battle with WSU

Thursday, May 9

Winona, MN

1:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

43-17

Winona State University

51-7

St. Cloud State

Winona State

Photo by: Kelsey Whaley

5/9/2019 4:37:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

WINONA, MINN. – The St. Cloud State University softball team hoped that the fourth time would be the charm in Thursday's NCAA Regional matchup with the No. 6 Winona State University Warriors. Despite another hard-fought battle, it wasn't meant to be for the Huskies, as they fell to the Warriors in the first round of the NCAA Regional by a final score of 5-0.

Even though St. Cloud State finished with a zero on the scoreboard, the Huskies actually had several chances to score against No. 6 Winona State. In fact, it looked like St. Cloud State might score the first run of the ball game, as senior catcher Morgan Emmans (Blaine, Minn. / Mounds Park Academy) drew a leadoff walk off Warrior ace Jordyn Kleman to put a runner on first with no outs for the Huskies. The speedy senior then stole second and was bunted to third by Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville), putting a runner 60 feet from home with Megan Conrads (Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville South) and Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield) due up at the plate.

Emmans was unfortunately stranded at third, as Conrads struck out and Estrada hit a hard grounder right at the shortstop to end the top of the first for St. Cloud State. However, Kate Kopeck (Lumsden, Sask. / Lumsden) was a pitcher on a mission, as she hoped to keep Winona State's hot hitters at bay and pitch a clean innings of her own. After getting two of the first three batters to strike out, it looked like the senior ace was going to do just that, but back-to-back walks and a doinky ground ball through the first and second base hole allowed the Warriors to score the first runs of the ball game and go up 2-0 in the bottom of the first.

Again, the Huskies managed to get the leadoff hitter in scoring position in the top of the second, as Raven Vanden Langenberg (Seymour, Wis. / Seymour) drew another leadoff walk before stealing second base. Like Emmans, though, the first year shortstop was stranded at second, and St. Cloud State was unable to cut into the Warriors lead in the second inning.

Kopeck managed to keep Winona State at bay until the third, when the Warriors went up 3-0 on another bloop single, this time by Ally Nowak. There was still plenty of time for the Huskies to do some damage, though, especially with the heart of the order two up at least twice more in the final four innings. It was Winona State, unfortunately, that would cross the plate next, as the No. 6 team in the nation scored two runs on two home runs in the fifth to extend the lead to 5-0.

St. Cloud State did put two rallies together in the sixth and seventh innings. Emmans reached base to lead off the sixth inning and Keating registered the team's first hit of the game to put runners on second and first with no outs. Unfortunately, the two were stranded in place, as the next three batters went down in order to end the Huskies rally in the sixth.

The same was sadly true of St. Cloud State's seventh inning rally. After the first two batters went down, first year Alexandra Pinkowski (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) poked a line drive to shallow right center to keep the Huskies rally hopes alive. First base was as far as the right fielder would get, though, as Pinkowski was also stranded on the bases and St. Cloud State fell by a final score of 5-0.

Keating and Pinkowski registered the Huskies only two hits of the game, while Emmans reached base in all three plate appearances with two walks and a hit by pitch.

Kopeck took the loss, as she gave up five earned runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings of work. Lauren Kirchberg (Columbus, Wis. / Columbus) pitched 1.2 innings of flawless relief, as she held the Warriors to just one hit and no runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

With the loss, St. Cloud State's record now stands at 43-17 and the team is 0-1 in NCAA Regional play. The Huskies will return to action on Friday, May 10, as they fight for their season in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. in Winona, Minnesota.