University of Minnesota Athletics
Hassett Tosses Four-Hitter as Gophers Win Big Ten Opener
3/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
After an 11-day layoff, the Golden Gopher softball team returned to its winning ways Friday afternoon in East Lansing, Mich. Minnesota (18-8, 1-0 Big Ten), led by Briana Hassett’s four-hit shutout, defeated the Spartans of Michigan State (14-14, 0-1) 2-0 in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
The win snaps a two-game losing skid for the Golden Gophers, who won their conference opener for the first time since 2005. Minnesota was 4-9 in Big Ten play last season and 1-17 in 2006.
Hassett, the junior out of Eagan, Minn. and Eastview High School, was brilliant once again in the circle for the Gophers. The four-hit, six-strikeout performance was the seventh shutout and 12th win the season for Hassett, giving the righthander career highs in both categories. The victory also drops Hassett’s season ERA to 1.36.
Minnesota managed just five hits against Spartan hurlers Lesley Noel and Kelly Confer, but two of them were big ones both Malisa Barnes (fifth inning) and Casey Wheeler (sixth) connected for solo home runs against starter Noel. The homers both cleared the center field wall at Old College Field, which is over 220 feet away.
The home run was the second career collegiate long ball for first baseman Barnes, who is hitting .299 with 14 RBIs so far in her freshman season. It was the second homer of the year for the senior Wheeler and the fourth of her career.
Colleen Conway, Sila Fernandez and Shannon Stemper also had singles for Minnesota.
The two teams played despite the three inches of snow that fell on the East Lansing area Thursday night (which forced the cancellation of Friday’s Spartan baseball game).
The Gophers and Spartans will wrap up their two-game set Saturday afternoon at Old College Field in a contest that is scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m. (CT). Minnesota is then scheduled to travel to Evanston, Ill. Sunday for a doubleheader against the 16th-ranked Wildcats.
