St. Cloud State
Truman State University
LaPoint’s no-no, offensive explosion highlight day two of Kelly Laas Invite
2/13/2021 9:05:00 PM | Softball
ST. CLOUD, MINN. - When the St. Cloud State University softball team is on, the Huskies are very on.
Saturday morning, St. Cloud State was the definition of on, as both its offensive and defense exploded for its best performances of the 2021 season. After being held to a combined four runs on Friday, the Huskies were looking to make an offensive statement in their Saturday doubleheader against the Bulldogs, and what a statement they made. St. Cloud State went off for 17 runs in game one and 8 runs in game two to defeat Truman State University 17-0 and 8-0.
In addition to the offense, the Huskies pitching staff was also pretty darn impressive, as Sydney LaPoint (Green Bay, Wis. / Bay Port) and Lauren Kirchberg (Columbus, Wis. / Columbus) extending St. Cloud State's shutout streak to 24 consecutive innings without surrendering a run. Additionally, LaPoint recorded the first no hitter of her Huskies career, as she threw five flawless innings without surrendering a single hit in St. Cloud State's game one 17-0 win.
It took the Huskies a solid inning to get the bats going in the opening 17-0 win, but once they found their groove, they were extremely hard to stop. After going down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first, Megan Conrads (Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville South) led off the second with a single and eventually stole second during Holly Weinberger's (Waconia, Minn. / Waconia) at bat to give St. Cloud State a baserunner with no outs.
Two batters later, the Huskies loaded the bases with Brooke Bowlin (Chaska, Minn. / Holy Family) at the plate. The speedy Bowlin, though, didn't even have to put the ball in play, as Conrads scored easily from third on a pass ball to put St. Cloud State ahead 1-0. The Huskies weren't done scoring either, as Haley McFarlane (Swisher, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie) delivered a two-RBI single to boost St. Cloud State's lead to 3-0.
Even then the Huskies weren't satisfied, as they scored four more runs in the inning to extend their lead to 7-0. Cassie Francesconi (Schomberg, Ontario / Emily Carr Secondary), Raven Vanden Langenberg (Seymour, Wis. / Seymour) and Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield) all delivered RBI hits, with Estrada's being an out of this stratosphere home run to the other side of the dome.
LaPoint sent the Truman State batters down in order in the top of the third to send her hitters back to the plate, hungry for more. It was in the bottom of the inning that St. Cloud State scored six runs on six hits, extending its lead to 13-0 with at least two innings left to play. Conrads delivered one of many highlights that inning with her three-run blast over the center field fence, while Tenley Quesnell (Boise, Idaho / Timberline) recorded the first hit of her collegiate career.
Of course, the Huskies still weren't done scoring, as they added four runs in the bottom of the fourth for a 17-0 lead. Lydia Kueger (Appleton, Wis. / Appleton North) recorded an RBI single for her first collegiate career and then later scored the 17th run of the game on a wild pitch.
The extra 16 runs wouldn't have mattered the way LaPoint was pitching from the circle. The junior's no hitter was one error short of perfection, as she struck out 10 of the 16 Bulldog batters she faced without surrendering a single walk. Additionally, the no hitter is the first for a St. Cloud State pitcher since April 26, 2015 when Kelly Franks blanked UMary in seven innings.
The Huskies continued to roll in game two, as they cruised to an 8-0 victory over the same Truman State team. St. Cloud State scored at least one run in all five innings, including multi-run innings in the third, fourth and eighth. Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville) put together her best hitting performance of the weekend, as she went 2-4 at the plate with two RBI, while Trees went 2-3 and scored two runs.
Kirchberg was once again flawless, as she held the Bulldogs to no runs on three hits with two strikeouts to earn her second win of 2021. She additionally preserved the Huskies shutout streak, as the pitching staff has not allowed a single opponent to score in 24 innings of work.
With the two wins, St. Cloud State's overall record improves to 4-0. The Huskies will close the Kelly Laas Invite on Sunday, as they take on Viterbo in their final doubleheader of the weekend. Game one is to start at 1 p.m. with game three to follow.
