University of Minnesota Athletics
Softball Set to Host Metrodome Classic
2/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
For the second consecutive season, the Golden Gopher softball is playing host to its mid-winter invitational, the Metrodome Softball Classic, at the H.H.H. Metrodome in Minneapolis. The four-day, round-robin competition includes 16 games, featuring six different teams from around the country. Minnesota will play six games during the tournament, with a special Golden Gopher Softball Hall of Fame induction ceremony honoring former Minnesota great Jordanne Nygren and longtime umpire and Minnesota softball supporter Les Novak. The ceremony will take place before the Feb. 13 game at 3:45 p.m.
Minnesota fans can catch all of this weekend's action on the Gold Zone at gophersports.com. Former Gopher Amber Nelson will be on the call for each of Minnesota's six weekend games. She will be joined by fellow former Gopher Casey Wheeler for the final four games of the weekend.
Hasset Leads Gophers in Tampa
For the third consecutive year, the University of Minnesota softball program got its season underway with a trip to the Sunshine State. After beginning the 2007 and 2008 campaigns in Jacksonville, the Gophers began the first chapter of their 2009 story on the opposite coast at the Louisville Slugger Tournament hosted by the University of South Florida in Tampa last weekend.
Senior pitcher Briana Hassett had a great weekend, throwing two complete game shutouts and finishing the trip with a 1.23 earned run average and 29 strikeouts in 22 innings.
Right fielder Bethany Wolvington paced the Gophers at the dish, turning in a three-hit, four-RBI performance in a season-opening 10-0 thrashing of Florida Gulf Coast. The senior finished the weekend with a .316 average and seven total bases.
The trip was highlighted by a 4-3 win over 2008 BIG EAST champion and tournament host USF on Saturday afternoon. The win over Bulls came on the strength of a solid game from Hassett and steady defense. Hassett struck out three USF hitters and permitted just five hits to improve her record on the young season to 3-0.
“The win was huge. South Florida was conference champions last season and they’re getting a lot of national attention, so it was a great win for us,” co-head coach Lisa Bernstein said. “Hassett really did a fantastic job for us all day long.”
The win over USF came just after Hassett’s five hit shutout helped the Gophers to a 2-0 win over Illinois State on Saturday morning. Freshman Alissa Koch turned in a solid performance in Sunday’s 1-0 loss to UNC-Greensboro, allowing just five hits and a single run while tossing her first career complete game.
Classic Highlights Busy Spring
After beginning the season in Tampa last weekend, the Gophers’ Metrodome Classic this weekend is the highlight of a busy spring schedule. After playing host at the Metrodome, Minnesota is scheduled to play in high-level tournaments on four consecutive weekends, meeting some of the nation’s most storied programs during their spring schedule. The Gophers will tangle with preseason No. 11 Stanford and No. 23 Nevada, along with established softball programs UC Riverside and Oregon State, in a tournament hosted by Cal State-Fullerton in Fullerton, Calif., the final weekend in February.
One week later, the team heads to the Hillenbrand Invitational in Tucson, Ariz. There, the Gophers will meet perennial NCAA title contender Arizona for a doubleheader on March 6. The Wildcats are ranked seventh in the NFCA/USA Today preseason poll, and Arizona is the alma mater of Minnesota co-head coaches Lisa Bernstein and Julie Standering.
“We’ve designed this schedule to test ourselves right from the beginning,” Bernstein said. “All the tournaments early in the season are important for us to establish what we want to be about this season. If we play the way we think we can, we’ll be in good shape and we’ll be more than ready for Big Ten play.”
Dalen Making Transition Look Easy
After throwing more than 320 innings as a pitcher in her first three years in a Golden Gopher uniform, senior Katie Dalen is making the transition to a utility role this season. Her powerful right-handed bat was a valuable weapon for the Minnesota coaching staff in the lineup and off the bench last weekend.
Dalen earned a pair of starts in Tampa, hitting in the middle of the order and coming off the bench in two other games. With three hits, she enters play this weekend leading the team with a .375 average.
