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Box Score 2
Over the last decade Gustavus Adolphus College has established itself as one of the powerhouse softball programs in Minnesota Intercollegiate AthIetic Conference (MIAC).
Heading into Sunday's doubleheader, the St. Catherine University softball team hadn't defeated the Gusties since 2002. After dropping two games to Augsburg College Saturday and playing its fourth series in as many days, taking down the Gusties was going to be a tall order.
But behind the strong pitching of
Lindsey Klein (Shoreview, Minn.) the Wildcats broke their winless streak against the Gusties with 2-0 and 7-0 decisions to sweep the Gusties Sunday morning in St. Peter, Minn.
Klein pitched both games in their entirety and shutout the Gusties allowing just seven hits and striking out 14 batters through both games. The first-year finished the week with six complete games, four wins, one save and an impressive 1.83 earned run average (ERA). With the wins, Klein lowered her season ERA to 2.69 to lead all Wildcat pitchers and move into the top seven among all MIAC pitchers.
Game one against the Gusties opened with three scoreless innings before
Jessica Tyminski (Champlin, Minn.) picked up one of her three hits on the day to get a runner on base in the top of the fourth. Pinch runner
Caitlin DeWitt (Stillwater, Minn.) then scored for the Wildcats on a Gustie error to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
Shae Elliott would then bring in
Ashley Matthys (Elk River, Minn.) to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead, which would be good enough for the win in game one.
Jenna Brady (Greenfield, Minn.) picked up one of just three Wildcat hits in the first win of the day.
In game two, the bats came alive for the Wildcats beginning with an
Alyssa McKee (Spring Lake Park, Minn.) triple to bring Brady home for one of her two runs.
Later in the inning Matthys would send in McKee for her first of three runs in game two with an RBI single, giving the Wildcats a 2-0 lead they would never surrender en route to victory.
McKee would then bring home
Alyssa Luedtke (Spring Lake Park, Minn.) in the fifth, before Matthys would pick up another RBI single to send McKee across the plate again. Brady also scored to help the Wildcats extend their lead to 5-0 after five.
The scoring continued in the sixth as Matthys and Tyminski each picked up RBI singles. Matthys finished game two 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI, while Tyminski extended her hitting streak to eight-straight games. She continues to lead all Wildcat hitters with an impressive .394 batting average as the designated player.
McKee finished game two 2-for-3 with three runs, two RBI and a triple to improve her season average to .352. Her 27 RBI on the season is the best among all Wildcats and is in the top-10 of all MIAC hitters.
Brady finished the day with two hits, while
Erin Fitzpatrick (White Bear Lake, Minn.), Larissa Karl (Buffalo Lake, Minn.) and
Raven Baker (Minneapolis, Minn.) each had a hit in the game two win.
After four-straight days of softball, the Wildcats will take a day off before returning to action Tuesday at Macalester College to complete game one of the doubleheader that began Friday, April 5. The Scots lead the Wildcats 9-4 after 4.5 innings complete. Game one will begin at 5 p.m. with game two scheduled to start immediately following.
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