Walk off secures Sunday sweep

Sunday, May 9

St. Cloud, Minn.

12 p.m.

St. Cloud State

25-14, 14-11

Northern State University

22-17, 13-12

Northern State

St. Cloud State

Sydney Trees walk off double secured both the win and No. 6 seed in the conference tournament for the Huskies.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

5/9/2021 6:01:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

ST. CLOUD, MINN. - There are moments every softball kid dreams about: bottom of the seventh, winning run on second base, two outs on the scoreboard. And they are the batter at the plate. In the dream, they may blast the ball over the center field fence for a game winning home run or double down the left field line, allowing the runner to score. Either way, they are the hero, their team the winners at the end of it all.

Every softball kid dreams it, but few live it. Sydney Trees (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake) and the St. Cloud State University softball team did. After earning a 4-1 win in their opening game against Northern State University Sunday afternoon, the Huskies needed a few extra innings to take down the Wolves in game two. Thanks to Trees' walk off double in the bottom of the ninth, St. Cloud State earned a big 6-5 win over Northern State and an even bigger Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) sweep on the final day of regular season play.

Before Trees could cement herself as a Husky legend, St. Cloud State opened the day with a 4-1 win over the visiting Wolves, using a three-run fifth inning to earn the victory. After falling behind 1- 0 in the top of the third, the Huskies responded by scoring a run of their own courtesy of RBI machine Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield). In fact, St. Cloud State proved walks truly can haunt a team, as Brooke Bowlin (Chaska, Minn. / Holy Family) and Megan Conrads (Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville South) drew back-to-back walks, putting runners on first and second with one out. While the Wolves got Raven Vanden Langenberg (Seymour, Wis. / Seymour) to fly out to deep left field, they couldn't avoid pitching to the red-hot Estrada, who laced a single down the left field line to score Bowlin and even the score at 1-1.

The game remained deadlocked after four innings of play, and things got a bit spicy in the fifth, as St. Cloud State proceeded to take a three run lead of its own in the bottom inning. Again, it was Bowlin and Conrads who got things going for the Huskies, as Bowlin hit a lead off single and Conrads reaced on a throwing error by the third baseman to put runners on first and third with one out. Vanden Langenberg then laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Bowlin from third for a 2-1 lead before Estrada's towering home run to dead center extended St. Cloud State's lead to 4-1 after two.

Northern State threatened to cut that lead in half in the top of the sixth, as Emily Charchuk hit a one-out double to put a runner on second for the Wolves with one out. Trinity Junker (Lindstrom, Minn. / Chisago Lakes) struck out Elly Smith for the second out of the game, but it looked like Northern State was destined to take a lead, as Kennady Thompson laced a single up the middle and Charcuck took off for home. Vanden Langenberg unexpectedly cut off Bowlin's throw home, but her dart to Trees was right on the money, allowing the catcher to tag out the sliding Charchuk for the third out of the inning.

After a 1-2-3 inning for the Huskies, Junker went back to work, securing her sixth win of the season with a 1-2-3 inning of her own. In fact, the first year threw her second complete game of the weekend, surrendering just one earned run on four hits in seven innings of work. Additionally, she struck out eight batters and allowed just two walks, concluding her weekend with 18 total strikeouts in 12 innings pitched.

Estrada led the way at the plate for St. Cloud State in game one, as she was 2-3 at the plate with one run and a team-leading three RBI in the win. Bowlin, Vanden Langenberg and Trees all tallied a hit in the victory, while Bowlin scored four of the team's four runs in the win.

Early on in game two, it looked like late inning heroics wouldn't come into play, as the Huskies scored three runs in two innings for an early 3-0 lead. Again, the No. 1 and 2 duo of Bowlin and Conrads caused plenty of problems for the Wolves defense, as Bowlin reached on a dropped third strike by the catcher and eventually scored on a throwing error by the third baseman during Conrads at bat, giving St. Cloud State an early 1-0 lead in the first. The Huskies then made it 3-0 in the bottom of the second, as Bowlin's bases clearing double scored both Trees and Maya Keating (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrensville).

That's when things got interesting. Northern State cut the St. Cloud State to 3-2 in the top of the first, as back-to-back hits by Shelby Novotny and Elsye Cuttic whittled the Huskies lead to just one run. Then, two innings later, the Wolves took their first lead of the game, as a lead-run blast by Cuttic put Northern State ahead 5-3 with two and a half innings remaining in the game.

St. Cloud State threatened in the bottom of the fifth but had nothing to show for it, as Conrads was left stranded on first base. In the bottom of the sixth, though, Trees came through with an RBI single, scoring Tenley Quesnell (Boise, Idaho / Timberline) from second to cut the Wolves lead to 5-4.

In the end, it came down to the final inning. Kylie Thomsen (Elk Grove Village, Ill. / Elk Grove Village) held the Northern State batters at bay in the top of the seventh, bringing up Keating and the top of the Huskies order to the plate. Keating lined out to the shortstop for the first out of the inning, but Bowlin reached on a beautifully placed single. The speedster then stole second and scored easily on a RBI single by Conrads, making it 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh.

After Conrads double, St. Cloud State loaded the bases, as the Wolves pitching staff opted not to deal with Estrada or Holly Weinberger (Waconia, Minn. / Waconia) with runners in scoring position and the game on the line. Haley McFarlane (Swisher, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie) seemed destined for greatness, though, as she put the ball in play with a hard hit grounder to the right side. The ball looked like it would slip past the second baseman, but Charchuk made an impressive play to end the inning and the Huskies scoring threat.

Thomsen took care of business in the eighth inning, surrendering just one hit to the eight hitter before pitching her way out of the jam with a fielder's choice and ground out to first. Cassie Francesconi (Schomberg, Ontario / Emily Carr Secondary School) and Keating tallied back-to-back bunt singles and Conrads walked to load the bases for Vanden Langenberg. Again, an outstanding defensive play by the Wolves ended St. Cloud State's scoring chances, this time via a diving catch by right fielder Ashley Fauske.

Then came the ninth. Again, Thomsen went to work in the circle and sent the heart of Northern State's order packing with two flyouts and a ground out. The Wolves were then faced with a choice: pitch to Estrada or give the designated player a free base and hope for the best. Northern State opted to pitch to the left, and she made them pay, lacing a single to right center to give the Huskies a base runner with no outs.

It looked like Estrada's single would be for naught, as Weinberger and McFarlane both hit deep fly outs to the outfield, resulting in a runner on first with two outs. With Trees at the plate, Estrada pulled off the heist of the season, stealing second when no one was watching on a 2-1 count to the catcher. Two pitches later, Trees made Northern State pay. With a hitter's count, the sophomore connected on a 3-1 pitch and punched a ball to center field, scoring Estrada from second and winning the game 6-5.

Five different Huskies tallied two hits in game two, including Bowlin, Conrads, Estrada, Trees and Keating. Trees, Estrada and Keating all went 2-4 with a run, while Trees and Bowlin each added two RBI in the win.

Thomsen went the distance in the circle for St. Cloud State, as she secured her eighth win of the season by pitching nine complete innings of work.

With the sweep, the Huskies close the regular season with a 26-14 record and a 15-11 mark in NSIC play. St. Cloud State also clinches the No. 6 seed in the NSIC tournament, which is set to begin Thursday, May 13 at the RYFSA Complex in Rochester, Minnesota. As the No. 6 seed, the Huskies will open the tournament at 12 p.m. against No. 3 seed Winona State. More information regarding the NSIC Tournament will be available in the upcoming days.