No harm, no fowl: Huskies go 2-0 on final day of Kelly Laas Invite

Sunday, February 16

St. Cloud, Minn.

11 a.m.

St. Cloud State

4-0

William Jewell College (Mo.)

1-3

William Jewell

St. Cloud State

Maya Keating reaches for home plate to complete her inside-the-park home run against Viterbo Sunday afternoon.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

No harm, no fowl: Huskies go 2-0 on final day of Kelly Laas Invite

2/16/2020 6:47:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – Dogs can spend up to hours a day chasing a variety of birds.

The St. Cloud State University softball team did not spend a whole lot of time chasing its opponents Sunday afternoon. In fact, if anything, the Huskies fowl opponents spent most of the morning and afternoon chasing them, as St. Cloud State nabbed two more wins at the Kelly Laas Invite over William Jewell College (8-0) and Viterbo University (11-1) to open the season with a perfect 5-0 record.

The Huskies made quick work of William Jewell in their second meeting of the weekend, as they downed the Cardinals 8-0 in five innings. After a defensive battle on Saturday, St. Cloud State went off in an offensive explosion, scoring eight runs in three innings on nine hits, including home runs from Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield) and Haley McFarlane (Swisher, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie). In fact, it was Estrada that put the Huskies on the board in the bottom of the first, as she laced a high fastball over the left-center fence to give her team the early 2-0 lead.

St. Cloud State added two more runs in the bottom of the second, as Alexandra Pinkowski (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) and Brooke Bowlin (Chaska, Minn. / Holy Family) scored to extend the Huskies lead 4-0. Pinkowski scored on a line drive single by Bowlin, and the speedy lefty later scored on a RBI fielder's choice by Sydney Trees (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) extending the lead and St. Cloud Sate's scoring streak to three consecutive innings against William Jewell.

The Huskies offense truly came to life in the bottom of the third, as they scored four runs on five hits to boost their lead to 8-0. McFarlane got things started with her second solo home run of the season, vaulting the ball over the center field fence to extend St. Cloud State's lead to 5-0. Then, it was a barrage of singles and a triple that helped the Huskies score the next three runs, as Cassie Francesconi (Schomberg, Ontario / Emily Carr Secondary School), Pinkowski and Bowlin singles and scored, while Megan Conrads (Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville South) tallied the triple to secure the 8-0 advantage for St. Cloud State.

Sydney LaPoint (Green Bay, Wis. / Bay Port) ran into trouble just once, but she mowed down the Cardinal batters in four innings of work. In the top of the third, LaPoint surrendered back-to-back singles, but a clutch throw from Pinkowski caught the leadoff batter dead to rights trying to take third base, giving the Huskies their first out of the inning. From there, it was easy work for the sophomore ace, as she would give up just one more hit to the William Jewell batters before retiring after four innings of work.

After the 8-0 win over the Cardinals, St. Cloud State was looking to close its weekend with a perfect 5-0 record. The Huskies wasted no time jumping all over Viterbo's starting pitcher Kendyl Schine, as they scored four runs in the opening inning for an early 4-0 lead. Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville) provided some fireworks, as her inside-the-park home run counted as the first of her career and the first run for St. Cloud State in the game. Trees followed it up with a home run of her own, this time in the more traditional sense, while Estrada and Francesconi both scored later in the inning to account for the team's four first inning runs.

In typical offensive fashion, the Huskies tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the second, as Conrads hit a two-run bomb to put her team ahead 6-0. The V-Hawks answered by scoring their first run of the game in the top of the third thanks to back-to-back doubles by Autumn Olson and Sonya McCormick. In the long run, the run was no harm, no fowl for St. Cloud State, as the team scored four unearned runs in the bottom of the inning, extending its lead to 10-1.

Viterbo again threatened in the top of the fourth, as the V-Hawks managed a leadoff walk against junior reliever Emma Murphy (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) before a Taylor Vance single put runners on first and second with no outs. The threat didn't matter though, as Kendyl Schine grounded into a double play for outs one and two before Murphy got Cailtin Brown to line out to the right field to end the inning.

Even if Viterbo scored, it wouldn't have mattered in the long run, as the Huskies added another run to their lead in the bottom of the fourth to make it an 11-1 game after four innings of play. Murphy then closed the game for St. Cloud State, as she shut down the heart of the V-Hawks order to clinch the five inning victory for the Huskies.

Several hitters were hot throughout Saturday. In the opener against William Jewell, both Bowlin and Pinkowski went 2-2 at the plate with two runs scored, while McFarlane went 2-3 with a run and RBI. In the night cap against Viterbo, four different student-athletes recorded two hits in the game, including Keating (2-3), Trees (2-3), Estrada (2-2) and Bowlin (2-3).

Pitching wise, LaPoint earned the win over the Cardinals, improving her overall record to 2-0 this season, while Thomsen nabbed her second victory of 2020 in the Huskies win over Viterbo.

With the wins, St. Cloud State's overall record improves to 5-0, marking the first time the Huskies have opened the season with an unblemished mark since the 2017 season. St. Cloud State will look to stay perfect in two weeks when the team participates in the Washburn Invite in Topeka, Kansas. The Huskies will open the tournament on Friday, February 28 with a 1 p.m. contest against the University of Nebraska-Kearney before taking on Pittsburg State at 3 p.m.