University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
SIUE
Gophers Blank SIUE, Central Arkansas
2/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 8, 2014
Gophers 5, SIUE 0 (Box) | Gophers 7, Central Arkansas 0 (Box)
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Minnesota softball team posted back-to-back shutout wins at the Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge, La. Saturday, downing Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 5-0, and Central Arkansas, 7-0. The Gophers, now 4-0 for the first time since 2007, have held three-consecutive opponents without a run.
Dating back to last season, 12 of Minnesota's last 17 wins have come via shutout.
Against the Cougars, it took three innings for the Gophers to register a hit off SIUE pitcher Haley Chambers, but the first hits they did produce gave them runs.
Erica Meyer got Minnesota on the board in the fourth by blasting the team's first home run of the season over the centerfield wall. After Kaitlyn Richardson reached on a single, senior Bree Blanchette sent another Chambers offering over the fence to make it 3-0.
The three-run fourth inning was all Gopher hurler Sara Moulton would need as she tossed her second-straight shutout to start the season, fanning 11 Cougars while conceding just three hits and a walk.
Richardson capped the scoring by doubling home Meyer and Tyler Walker to add some insurance.
The win was the 87th of Moulton's career, leaving her one victory shy of Minnesota pitching coach Piper Ritter for the school's all-time record. She now has a school-best 93 complete games and 37 shutouts.
Picking up where she left off in the team's first game of the season, freshman Sara Groenewegen was dominant in Minnesota's second game, both at the plate and in the circle.
Groenewegen drove in Richardson for the game's first run in the first inning to give the Gophers a lead they would not relinquish. She then proceeded to baffle Central Arkansas hitters all game, racking up 14 strikeouts.
Blanchette, Kelsey Klucas, and Sam Macken crossed the plate in the fourth inning to make it 4-0 and Minnesota added three runs in the fifth and sixth, including Groenewegen's first-career home run, to take a seven-run lead.
Minnesota wraps up play in Baton Rouge Sunday with an 11 a.m. clash against Oklahoma State.
