Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Game 1 - Wayne State 3 #23 Minnesota State 2 (14 inn.)
Game 2 - #23 Minnesota State 1 Wayne State 0 (9 inn.)
The Wayne State College softball team worked overtime Wednesday afternoon to earn a split at 23rd-ranked Minnesota State. The Wildcats edged the host Mavericks 3-2 in 14 innings in the first game, then suffered a 1-0 loss in nine innings to Minnesota State in the second game. With the split, WSC is now 28-13 overall and 11-2 in the NSIC while Minnesota State is now 28-8 and 9-3 in league play. The Wildcats did move into sole possession of first place in the NSIC thanks to Southwest Minnesota State sweeping Augustana Wednesday afternoon 3-0 and 4-0.
In the first game, Hannah Engelkamp's single to left field with one out scored Amy Sandstrom, who tripled in the previous at bat, to give the Wildcats a thrilling 3-2 win in 14 innings over the Mavericks after Minnesota State scored in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the game into extra innings.
With Minnesota State leading 1-0 after three innings, WSC scored twice in the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead. Katie Goetzinger led off the inning with a solo homer and then Blaire Kuhl added an RBI single that scored Amy Sandstrom, who doubled, to put WSC ahead. Minnesota State then tied the game in the bottom of the seventh and the two teams played seven extra innings before WSC scored the game-winner in the 14th inning.
WSC had 17 hits in the game to just nine for Minnesota State. Sandstrom was an amazing 5 for 7 with two runs scored for the Wildcats. Blaire Kuhl, Brittany Greenwood, Sam Earleywine and Katie Goetzinger each added two hits for the Wildcats at the plate.
Goetzinger (20-8) pitched all 14 innings to earn the pitching win for WSC. She allowed just nine hits and two runs with nine strikeouts. Her nine strikeouts raised Goetzinger's season total to 226, breaking the previous single season school mark of 225 strikeouts set by Roni Johnson Wobken in the 1990 season. Goetzinger, who became Wayne State's career strikeout leader on Saturday vs. Northern State, now has 368 strikeouts.
The second game saw Minnesota State hold the Wildcats to just three hits as the Mavericks squeaked past Wayne State for a 1-0 win in nine innings, negating a stellar pitching performance by Wildcat sophomore Amber Baird. Baird struck out a career-high 12 batters while allowing just nine hits and one run in nine innings, but was tagged with the loss to fall to 8-5 on the season.
WSC had just three hits in the game as Hannah Engelkamp was 2 for 4 with a pair of singles while Blaire Kuhl went 1 for 4 to extend her hitting streak to 22 consecutive games.
Wayne State will be on the road again this weekend, visiting Minnesota Duluth Saturday at noon and Bemidji State Sunday at 10:00 a.m. in Northern Sun Conference play.
