ST. PAUL, MINN. – After an impressive 2016, it was hard to believe things would go better for the St. Catherine University softball team. That could not be farther from the truth. The Wildcats broke eight school records in 2017, including conference wins, and won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoff Championship for the first time in program history, earning the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. None of that would have been possible, though, without the arm of junior pitcher Krista Flugstad (Bloomington, Minn. / Jefferson), who has been named Wildcat Athlete-of-the-Week for her performances over the weekend.
Flugstad was dominant over the last week, as she posted a 4-0 weekend with three wins over Hamline University. The junior ace’s week got off to a fantastic start on Tuesday, when she helped St. Kate’s clinch a spot in the MIAC Playoffs with a 9-3 win over the Pipers. Flugstad gave up just one earned run in seven innings of work while striking out three to earn her school-record 20th win of the 2017 season.
Things only got better for Flugstad from that point on, as she posted a 3-0 record in the MIAC Tournament to help the Wildcats win the title for the first time in program history. In her second appearance of the week against Hamline, Flugstad was just as strong as she was on Tuesday, as she gave up just one run on four hits in the complete game effort. Her most impressive performance, though, came on Saturday, when Flugstad helped St. Kate’s advance to the winner’s bracket with an upset of No. 1 seed St. Thomas. Flugstad held the Tommies potent offense to just two runs on seven hits and tied the school record for career strike outs with six on the day.
Flugstad was also able to withstand the pressure of a championship game, as she pitched out of multiple jams in the Wildcats 6-2 championship win over Hamline on Sunday. The junior broke the school record for career strikeouts in the second inning, when she got Kira Krueger to strike out looking with a runner on base, and eventually tallied eight in the victory. She also held the Pipers to just two runs on eight hits, even though it was the third time she’d faced them during the week.
Thanks to her impressive weekend, Flugstad now holds a 23-4 record, the best among MIAC pitchers, with a 1.12 ERA. She also helped St. Kate’s finish with back-to-back 30 win seasons for the first time in program history and earned the MIAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
