University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Stetson
Gophers Sweep Stetson, Improve to 7-0
2/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
DeLAND, Fla. - The No. 12/13 Minnesota softball team continued its hot start to the season with a pair of road wins against Stetson at Patricia Wilson Field in DeLand, Fla. Friday. The Gophers blanked the Hatters, 3-0, in the first game and took the second game in five innings by a 16-7 score. The Maroon and Gold is now 7-0 for the second-consecutive season.
Five of the Gophers seven wins have been run-rule decisions. They have outscored their opponents 69-19 and combined for 26 hits in 12 innings in their doubleheader victories Friday.
The first game of the afternoon was a defensive duel. The Gophers pushed across a run in the first inning on a Kaitlyn Richardson RBI single and added two more on a Tyler Walker double in the fourth inning. Sara Groenewegen took care of the rest, keeping the SU bats at bay for the whole game. She earned a complete game shutout and tied a career-best in strikeouts with 14. She now has eight shutouts in her career.
The second game was a slugfest that featured nine home runs and saw at least one run scored in nine of 10 half innings.
Minnesota led the entire way after Groenewegen launched a three-run homer in the first inning. In the third inning, the Hatters scored three times to cut a four-run deficit to one, but Richardson belted a three-run homer to make it a 9-5 game in the top of the fourth. The Gophers went on to score a total of eight runs in the inning, aided by a two-run long balls by Hannah Granger and Taylor LeMay.
Groenewegen capped Minnesota's scoring in the fifth with her second home run of the night. It marked the 36th multi-home run game ever by a Gopher.
Kylie Stober earned the win by pitching the final 2.2 innings, upping her record to 2-0. Groenewegen finished the game with four hits, three runs, and five RBI. Danielle Parlich and Sydney Fabian had three hits apiece in the contest--Fabian blasted a solo home run in her first plate appearance.
After a day without game play, Minnesota will face UMass Lowell and Central Florida Sunday morning at the National Training Complex in Clermont, Fla. The Gophers will travel to Tempe, Ariz. to play in Arizona State's Diamond Devil Tournament next weekend.
###
