Softball earns Saturday sweep over UMC, William Jewell

Saturday, February 15

St. Cloud, Minn.

11 a.m.

St. Cloud State

2-0

University of Minnesota Crookston

2-3

Minnesota-Crookston

St. Cloud State

Sydney Trees makes a diving play in St. Cloud State's 4-0 win over Minnesota-Crookston.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

2/15/2020 10:26:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – The St. Cloud State University softball team is off to a rip-roaring start in 2020. Less than 24 hours after clinching their first win of the season, the Huskies added two more to their resume, this time over regional opponents. St. Cloud State opened its day at the Kelly Laas Invite with a 4-0 win over Minnesota-Crookston before taking down William Jewell in 10 innings 3-2.

While the Huskies earned their first "W" of the season with their bats, their second and third wins came the old fashioned way: through crack-down defense and outstanding pitching. In fact, St. Cloud State's pitchers surrendered just two earned runs in 17 innings of work, 10 of which were covered by sophomore reliever Lauren Kirchberg (Columbus, Wis. / Columbus). Kirchberg, along with starter Sydney LaPoint (Green Bay, Wis. / Bay Port), through seven shutout innings against the Golden Eagles, striking out a combined six hitters while allowing just two individuals to reach base in seven innings of work.

In the opener, LaPoint and Kirchberg were aided by timely hitting, as St. Cloud State took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to a double steal by Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville) and Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield). After Keating earned a one out walk, Estrada singled through the 5-6 hole, putting Huskies on first and second with one out. The two then ran the double steal to put runners in scoring position for clean up hitter Haley McFarlane (Swisher, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie). However, an errant throw by Minnesota-Crookston's catcher allowed Keating to score from third with ease and put Estrada at third with just one out in the inning.

Unfortunately, St. Cloud State was unable to plate another run in the first, as Estrada was picked off on a failed squeeze and Megan Conrads (Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville South) struck out swinging to end the inning. It looked like one run was all the Huskies offense would score, until they scored three in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-0 lead. McFarlane led off with a single and Conrads walked to again put runners on first and second for St. Cloud State, this time with no outs. However, it looked like the runners would be stranded, as the Huskies hit into back-to-back outs, bringing nine hitter Alexandra Pinkwoski (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) to the plate. The sophomore delivered, as her double bounced over the fence, allowing two runs to score before Cassie Francesconi (Schomberg, Ontario / Emily Carr Secondary) scored on a pass ball to give St. Cloud State its 4-0 advantage.

Those four runs were enough for Kirchberg, who threw four scoreless innings of relief to help the team secure its 4-0 victory. That set up a night cap with Kansas City's William Jewell, which definitely did not disappoint. After throwing 16 scoreless innings, the Huskies pitchers surrendered their first run of the season, as the Cardinals Sarah Lewis hit a solo home run to give her team an early 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. St. Cloud State answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning, as Conrads and first year catcher Ashley Schloer (O'Fallon, Ill. / O'Fallon) scored in the inning to give the Huskies the 2-1 advantage.

It looked like those two runs would be enough for St. Cloud State to earn its third win of the season, but a regulation win just wasn't in the cards for the Huskies. After giving up a lead-off double in the top of the seventh, it looked like Kirchberg had pitched her way out of the jam, getting a key strikeout and pop out to the second baseman for outs one and two. With a 1-2 count on the batter, it seemed as though all was well for the Huskies, but William Jewell tied things up 2-2 with a two-out double to deep right field.

St. Cloud State went down in order in the seventh, meaning the team was headed to extras for the first time in 2020. Fortunately, the Huskies prevailed for their first same-day sweep of the season. After two and a half scoreless innings, St. Cloud State finally broke through the drought, as Pinkowski scored from third on a grounder by Estrada to secure the 3-2 win in the bottom of the tenth.

Several key players put together multi-hit games, including McFarlane and Keating, who were the top hitters on the day. McFarlane went 2-3 at the plate in the opener against Minnesota-Crookston, while Keating was 3-5 against the Cardinals.

The day truly belonged to the Huskies defense and pitchers, as they came up with several clutch plays in both victories. LaPoint earned the win in game one, pitching three scoreless innings against the Golden Eagles, while Kirchberg persevered for the win in game two.

With the sweep, St. Cloud State's overall record improves to 3-0. The team will look to finish the Kelly Laas Invite with a perfect 5-0 on Sunday when the Huskies host William Jewell at 11 a.m. and Viterbo at 3 p.m.