Softball drops two one run games in Florida

Friday, March 4

Clermont, Fla.

9:00 a.m. CT

St. Cloud State

6-3

University of Southern Indiana

11-6

St. Cloud State

Southern Indiana

Haley McFarlane went 4-4 in the Huskies game against Southern Indiana Friday morning.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

3/4/2022 2:52:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

St. Cloud State falls 3-2 and 1-0 on opening day of spring break trip

CLERMONT, FLA.. – The St. Cloud State University softball team was hotter than hot entering its annual trip to Clermont, Florida for The Spring Games. While the weather was nice and toasty, the Huskies bats went cold in their opening games. St. Cloud State fell to Southern Indiana 3-2 in eight innings in game one before falling by a final score of 1-0 to Missouri-St. Louis. With the losses, the Huskies are now 6-4 overall.

GAME ONE: St. Cloud State (2) vs. Southern Indiana (3) - 8 innings

St. Cloud State had its work cut out for it in game one, as the Huskies fell behind 1-0 after the Screaming Eagles stole third and scored on a throwing error by Sydney Trees (Prior Lake, Minn. / Prior Lake). The senior catcher made up for her mistake, though, in the top of the fourth, tying the game at one with a single swing. Trees hit her team leading fifth home run of the game to tie the game at 1-1, and it looked like the Huskies might take a lead when Haley McFarlane (Swisher, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie) laced a single to the outfield on the very next pitch.

Trees run would be the only of the inning, resulting in the 1-1 tie after four. The game remained deadlocked at one for the following three innings, as Trinity Junker (Lindstrom, Minn. / Chisago Lakes) was dealing in the circle for St. Cloud State. The junior ace held Southern Indiana at bay through seven innings of work, allowing the Huskies the chance to strike first in extra innings. With the speedy Brooke Bowlin (Chaska, Minn. / Holy Family) at second, McFarlane hit a blooper between the shortstop and left fielder to score Bowlin and give St. Cloud State a 2-1 lead. The Screaming Eagles answered by scoring two in the bottom of the eighth, hitting a walkoff double to win the game 3-2.

GAME TWO: St. Cloud State (0) vs. Missouri-St. Louis (1)

The Huskies were blanked for the first time all season by the Tritons, stranding eight runners and compiling just five hits over the course of seven innings. After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, St. Cloud State looked to even the score in the bottom of the second, as Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield), Holly Weinberger (Waconia, Minn. / Waconia) and Madison Spah (Anoka, Minn. / Anoka) tallied back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases with two outs. The three lefties would be stranded on the base paths, resulting in a 1-0 Missouri-St. Louis lead after two.

The Huskies would put runners on base in the third, fourth and sixth innings with nothing to show for it. All three times, the runners were stranded at their respective bases, as St. Cloud State found itself in a 1-0 hole in the bottom of the seventh. The Huskies had some rally in them, as Raven Vanden Langenberg (Seymour, Wis. / Seymour) drew a two-out walk to give St. Cloud State a base runner. Sophie Culhane (Maple Grove, Minn. / Maple Grove) then laced the ball up the middle, seemingly extending the team's rally. The Tritons center fielder, though, snagged the ball out of the air, halting the Huskies comeback and securing the 1-0 victory.

TOP HUSKIES

Haley McFarlane (Swisher, Iowa / Cedar Rapids Prairie) went 4-4 at the plate in the Huskies loss to the Screaming Eagles with one RBI.
Trinity Junker (Lindstrom, Minn. / Chisago Lakes) suffered her first loss of the season, surrendered three runs, two earned, in 7.1 innings of work. She tallied eight strikeouts and did not walk a single batter.
Jasmin Estrada (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield ) was the lone player to tally multiple hits in the loss to Missouri-St. Louis, going 2-3 at the plate.
Emma Eickhoff (Becker, Minn. / Becker) suffered the loss in game two, striking out five and surrendering just one run in seven innings of work.

UP NEXT
The Huskies trek through Florida continues Saturday with another doubleheader at the Spring Games. St. Cloud State will open with Ferris State at 10:30 a.m. CT before facing Northwood at 12:30 p.m. in Clermont, Florida.