Huskies drop two on opening day in Missouri

Saturday, March 20

Warrensburg, Mo.

12 p.m.

St. Cloud State

10-1

Northeastern State University

13-6

St. Cloud State

Northeastern State

Cassie Francesconi went 2-2 at the plate in game one against Northeastern on Saturday.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

3/20/2021 5:31:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

WARRENSBURG, MO. - The indoor season may be officially over for the St. Cloud State University softball team. The Huskies made their return to outside fields, complete with grass and dirt, Saturday afternoon, as they took on Northeastern State University and the University of Central Missouri at the HyVee Classic in Warrensburg, Missouri. It wasn't the return to dirt St. Cloud State was hoping for. Despite a valiant effort, the Huskies dropped their first two games of the season, falling to Northeastern State 5-4 in eight innings before dropping game two to Central Missouri 5-4.

It was clear from the get go game one would be a pitchers duel between Sydney LaPoint (Green Bay, Wis. / Bay Port) and Gail Young. The two aces were practically perfect through two innings, as they held their opponents' respective line ups to no runs despite early threats from both the Riverhawks and St. Cloud State. It seemed as though the Huskies figured out Young first, as Cassie Francesconi (Schomberg, Ontario / Emily Carr Secondary) blasted a ball over the center field fence to give St. Cloud State a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. The Huskies then extended it one inning later, as Brooke Bowlin (Chaska, Minn. / Holy Family) delivered a clutch RBI single, scoring Lydia Kruger (Appleton, Wis. / Appleton North) from second and extending St. Cloud State's lead to 2-1 through three and a half innings.

Northeastern State managed to score its first run of the ballgame, a home run off the usually stingy LaPoint, in the bottom of the fourth to cut the Huskies lead to 2-1 after four. Still, it seemed like St. Cloud State a strong handle on things, as Francesconi again scored in the top of the fifth, this time after stealing third and forcing a Riverhawks error, to boost the Huskies lead to 3-1.

Again, Northeastern made things interesting by scoring in the bottom of the sixth, making it 3-2 St. Cloud State with one inning left to play. The Huskies were unable to extend their lead further in the seventh, but with LaPoint dishing on the mound, it didn't seem messy. With one out and nobody on, Rhomi Bradshaw lifted a pitch over the left field fence to send the game to extras, the first time an opponent has ever accomplished the feat against St. Cloud State this season.

With the international rule in play, the Huskies placed a runner on second to start the eighth inning, giving them a key advance with Francesconi, Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville) and Raven Vanden Langenberg (Seymour, Wis. / Seymour) guaranteed at-bats in the inning. Francesconi opened the inning with a sacrifice bunt, allowing the sneaky speedster Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield) to advance to third. After Keating flew out to the shortstop, Vanden Langenberg delivered the clutch RBI single, putting St. Cloud State 4-3 and three outs away from its 11th victory of the season.

The 11th victory wasn't meant to come against Northeastern, at least, not on Saturday. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Cat Rodman hit a walkoff double off Lauren Kirchberg (Columbus, Wis. / Columbus) to steal game one from the Huskies by a final score of 5-4.

After the extra inning defeat, St. Cloud State looked to rebound in game two and got off to the perfect start, as Estrada delivered a clutch RBI single to score Keating from third to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Alas, a victory against Central Missouri was not meant to be, as the Jennies scored five unanswered runs in the first four innings to take a 5-1 lead over St. Cloud State.

The Huskies climbed their way back into the game, though, as they scored one in the fifth and two in the sixth to cut the Central Missouri lead to 5-4 entering the top of the seventh. St. Cloud State just couldn't muster one final run, as the Jennies took the second game by final score of 5-4.

Francesconi had the best day at the plate in game one, as she went 2-2 with two runs and an RBI. Bowlin continued her impressive start to the season, as she went 2-3 with an RBI in game one on Saturday.

Kirchberg suffered the loss in the circle in game one, while Kylie Thomsen (Elk Grove Village, Ill. / Elk Grove Village) took the loss in game two.

After Saturday, the Huskies overall record now stands at 10-2, as they suffered their first losses of the 2021 season. St. Cloud State will be back in action on Sunday, March 21 when the team faces Northeastern State and Central Missouri again on day two of the HyVee Classic. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. in Warrensburg, Missouri.