St. Cloud State
5-0
Viterbo University (Wis.)
0-5
Huskies scorch Viterbo on final day of Kelly Laas
2/14/2021 7:27:00 PM | Softball
ST. CLOUD, MINN. - The Husky Dome maybe cold, but the St. Cloud State University softball team is hot. Very hot. Smolderingly hot. Scorching hot, one may even say.
The Huskies put their Saturday offensive explosion to shame on in their final doubleheader of the weekend against Viterbo University. In a doubleheader that featured a combined 38 runs, St. Cloud State swept the visiting V-Hawks by scores of 30-6 and 8-0 on the final day of the Kelly Laas Tournament.
To say the Huskies offense exploded in game one might be a bit of an understatement. Actually, it's a total understatement, as St. Cloud State scored 30 runs on 24 hits, beating visiting Viterbo 30-6. The bulk of the Huskies run were scored in a historic second inning. After putting seven runs on the board in the bottom of the first, St. Cloud State saw 18 runners cross the plate in the bottom of the second, allowing the team to extend the lead to 25-0 after two.
The 18 run inning started innocently enough. Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville) led off the inning with a bunt single and Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield) walked to put Huskies on first and second with no outs. Keating scored on a single by Megan Conrads (Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville South) before Haley McFarlane (Swisher, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie) brought both Estrada and Conrads home with a towering home run over the left field fence.
With the bases cleared, no outs, and an 11-0 lead, St. Cloud State kept scoring thanks to RBI singles from Kylie Thomsen (Elk Grove Village, Ill. / Elk Grove) and Cassie Francesconi (Schomberg, Ontario / Emily Carr Secondary). Then, things got wild in the Husky Dome. Errors by the V-Hawks and more hits by the Huskies resulted in a plethora of runs scored, a program record 18 to be exact, and a 25-0 St. Cloud State lead after two.
The Huskies tacked on five runs in the bottom of the fourth to reach 30, which, according to available record, is the second most runs scored in a game in program history. The record of 32 was set back in 1979 in a game against Bemidji State. Additionally, St. Cloud State's 18 runs scored in the second inning is the most runs scored by any team in a single inning, according to available records.
Viterbo broke the Huskies shutout streak at 26 innings, as the visitors scored two unearned runs in the top of the third to make it 25-2 St. Cloud State. The V-Hawks would score four more runs in the top of the fifth, but it wasn't enough to force a sixth inning, as the Huskies won the game by a final score of 30-6.
Holly Weinberger (Waconia, Minn. / Waconia) was perfect at the plate in game one, as she went 4-4 with four runs and four RBI. Francesconi went 3-4 (including an inside the park home run) with a team-leading six RBI, while Estrada scored a team-high five runs in the game. Thomsen earned the winning, as she surrendered no earned runs in three innings of work.
St. Cloud State wasted no time putting runs on the board in game two, as the team took an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Raven Vanden Langenberg (Seymour, Wis. / Seymour) kicked off the inning with a double, stole third and then scored on a Keating single to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Keating then scored on a Conrads single, similar to the second inning of game one, before Estrada scored on a ground out from McFarlane.
Viterbo held St. Cloud State to no runs in the bottom of the second but wasn't so lucky in the third and fourth. Weinberger scored on a McFarlane single in the bottom of the third to extend the Huskies lead to 4-0 before a four-run fourth made it 8-0 St. Cloud State. Vanden Langenberg and Keating scored on a RBI double from Estrada before a towering, monster home run by Conrads clinched the eight run advantage.
With an 8-0 lead after four inning, it seemed like the Huskies were destined for another quick five inning victory with Trinity Junker (Lindstrom, Minn. / Chisago Lakes) poised to earn her first win of the 2021 season. What many people didn't know was that Junker was also poised to tally the first no hitter of her career. After sending the first two V-Hawks batters to the bench, Junker needed one more out to secure the sacred milestone. In the end, the sophomore settled for a one hitter, as Viterbo designated player broke up the no no with a line drive up the middle before Junker secured the 8-0 win with her seventh strikeout of the game.
Conrads was the top hitter for the Huskies in game two, as she went 3-3 at the plate with two runs and three RBI for St. Cloud State. Vanden Langenberg also went 3-3, while Keating and Weinberger each went 2-3.
With the wins, the Huskies closed the Kelly Laas Tournament with a perfect 6-0 record, having scored 67 runs over the course of the four day tournament while only surrendering six. St. Cloud State will return to action on Saturday, February 27 when the team faces Minto State in a nonconference doubleheader. Game one is slated to start at 3 p.m. with game two to follow.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Thomsen, Kylie (2-0)
L: Ulaszek, Janelle (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Graf, Kaitlyn 1
RBI: Kress, Hailey 2 ; Graf, Kaitlyn 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Olson, Autumn 1 ; Walsh, Karissa 2 ; Brown, Caitlin 1 ; James, Morgan 1 ; Kress, Hailey 1
Batting:
2B: Vanden Langenberg, Raven 1 ; Krueger, Lydia 1 ; Estrada, Jasmin 1 ; Conrads, Megan 1 ; Thomsen, Kylie 1
3B: Weinberger, Holly 1 ; Thomsen, Kylie 1 ; Trees, Sydney 1
HR: McFarlane, Haley 1 ; Francesconi, Cassie 1
RBI: Krueger, Lydia 1 ; Estrada, Jasmin 1 ; Conrads, Megan 2 ; Culhane, Sophie 1 ; McFarlane, Haley 3 ; Quesnell, Tenley 1 ; Weinberger, Holly 4 ; Bowlin, Brooke 2 ; Thomsen, Kylie 3 ; Trees, Sydney 1 ; Francesconi, Cassie 6 ; Nelson, Gabrielle 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pich, Madie 2 ; Keating, Maya 2 ; Krueger, Lydia 2 ; Estrada, Jasmin 5 ; Conrads, Megan 2 ; McFarlane, Haley 1 ; Quesnell, Tenley 2 ; Weinberger, Holly 4 ; Bowlin, Brooke 4 ; Thomsen, Kylie 3 ; Trees, Sydney 1 ; Francesconi, Cassie 2
SB: Keating, Maya 2
