After a remarkable week for the St. Catherine University softball team where a new program record was set for wins in a season, the young squad faced just two more Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opponents with a potential trip to the conference playoffs on the line and had yet to make the long road trip to face a last-place Concordia College team. The Cobbers weren't going to go quietly as they forced the Wildcats to fight for 3-1 and 3-2 wins – with the second taking eight innings to decide – for the series sweep and a new school record for MIAC wins in a season Wednesday afternoon in Moorhead, Minnesota.Â
The Wildcats used the two victories Wednesday afternoon to improve to 13-7 in the MIAC. The previous record was set in 2006 when the Wildcats finished tied for fourth in the conference with a 12-10 record but failed to qualify for the postseason on tiebreakers.Â
For the fifth time this season, the Wildcats claimed both games of a conference doubleheader thanks in large part to the big bat of
Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) who went 5-for-8 at the plate with two home runs, five RBI and two runs scored.Â
In the opener, the Wildcats found themselves down early when the Cobbers struck in the first innning with a RBI triple to take a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats took several innings to respond, but Lindenfelser was the answer in the top of the third when she hit a two-RBI single to bring reigning MIAC Athlete-of-the-Week
Robyn Rohr (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) and
Maggie Germscheid (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi) across home plate to help the Wildcats take a 2-1 lead.Â
In the fifth inning, the Wildcats added an insurance run when Lindenfelser smashed a double to center field to bring Rohr home for her second run of the game. With the tally, the Wildcats took a 3-1 lead they would never surrender en route to victory.Â
Rohr finished game one 2-for-4 at the plate, while
Jessi Tyminski (Champlin, Minn./Totino-Grace) and
Krista Flugstad (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) each collected two hits in three plate appearances each.
Flugstad collected her 13th win of the season – which is now second all-time at St. Kate's for a single season – pitching her 12th complete game of the year. She gave up one run on just six hits and struck out 11 Cobber batters. This is the fourth time this season Flugstad struck out 10 or more opponents in a single game. Her season total of 138 strikeouts is now a new single season program record which had previously been set at 135 by Ana Fernandez in 2002.
Game two started off in much the same fashion as the opener with the Wildcats facing a deficit after just one inning of play. The Cobbers scored two runs on two-RBI single to go down 2-0.Â
The Wildcats again responded in the third inning, but added just one run to cut the deficit to 2-1 when
Michaela Bruns (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) doubled to center field to bring Rohr home for her 40th run of the season. Bruns' RBI was her 40th of the season and is now a school record for RBI in a single season.Â
It took the Wildcats until the sixth inning to even the score at 2-2 with no one other than Lindenfelser answering the call. The first-year hit her fifth home run of the season, before hitting her sixth of the season for the eventual game-winning run in the top of the eighth inning.Â
Lindenfelser also grabbed her eighth win on the mound when she came in for three innings of relief. She allowed no Cobber runs and just two hits while striking out two.Â
Rohr finished the day with three hits, while
Claire Woebke (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) had two hits in just five at bats with a sacrifice.
Donielle Kurvers (Monticello, Minn./Monticello) also had a hit in the opener.Â
With the wins, the Wildcats improve to 26-10 on the season and 13-7 in the MIAC. The will wrap up the regular season Saturday at home with a MIAC doubleheader against Macalester College. Game one is scheduled for 1 p.m.Â
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