University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Iowa
Gophers Seal Fourth-Straight 30-Win Season
4/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 8, 2014
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The 14th-ranked Minnesota softball team swept a Big Ten doubleheader against border rival Iowa Tuesday afternoon to pick up its 30th win of the season, giving the team its fourth 30-plus win season in a row. The Gophers shut out the Hawkeyes by scores of 2-0 and 7-0 to improve their 2014 record to 30-5 with an 8-2 ledger in the conference.
 Tyler Walker scored both of the Gophers' runs in the first game of the day.
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The shutouts, thrown by Sara Moulton and Sara Groenewegen, were the team's 17th and 18th of the season.
The first game had an auspicious start for Minnesota, which plated its first hitter of the game. Tyler Walker led the day off with a double and later came in to score, beating a throw home on a fielder's choice hit to second base by Taylor LeMay.
Moulton shut the Hawkeyes down, conceding just four hits in her 103rd-career complete game and 45th-career shutout. She leads NCAA Division I this season with 10 shutouts.
Walker cushioned the Gophers' lead in the 7th inning by crushing her fourth home run of the season over the right-field fence. The junior infielder now has 25 home runs in her career, the fourth-most by a Gopher all-time.
Moulton finished the game with six strikeouts, pushing her career total to 1,121, one shy of tying pitching coach Piper Ritter's school record. Her season total of 181 leads the Big Ten.
It took until the third inning for Minnesota to produce offense in the second game. After a Kaitlyn Richardson double, Groenewegen hit an infield single to produce the contest's first run.
The 1-0 score held until the sixth inning when hit all the way through the order and added six runs. Iowa committed three errors in the inning and singles by Richardson, Groenewegen, and Paige Palkovich scored runs.
In the circle, Groenewegen baffled the Hawkeye hitters all night, fanning 12 batters en route to her second shutout in a row. She now has 106 strikeouts on the season and passed the 100-strikeout plateau by striking out the side in the third inning. Her collegiate record improved to 9-0.
Minnesota returns home this weekend for a Friday-Saturday-Sunday series against No. 23/25 Northwestern at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. Friday's game is slated to start at 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday's games will begin at 1 p.m.
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