University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Cal Poly
Gophers Top Montana, Walk Off Versus Cal Poly
3/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
FRESNO, Calif. - The No. 16 Minnesota softball completed a perfect weekend at the Fresno State Classic Sunday, defeating Montana, 5-2, before walking off with a 1-0 win against Cal Poly in eight innings. The wins moved the Gophers' 2015 record to 23-4 and pushed their winning streak to nine games, making it their longest such streak since 2008.
The extra-inning contest against the Mustangs was the first of the season for Minnesota.
Against Montana, the Gophers struck first in the third inning when Kaitlyn Richardson crushed a three-run home run to score Tyler Walker and Sam Macken. The long ball was her team-leading seventh of the season and was the 37th of the two-time All-American's career, putting her third on the school's all-time list.
Macken extended the Gophers' lead in the following inning with an RBI double that plated Paige Palkovich. Montana fought back with two runs in the fifth, but a Tyler Walker run-scoring triple in the sixth made it a 5-2 game.
Nikki Anderson allowed two runs over 4.1 innings to earn the win and up her record to 4-1, while freshman Kylie Stober struck out three in 2.2 scoreless innings of relief to garner her first-career save.
The second game was a pitchers' duel between Minnesota's Sara Groenewegen and Cal Poly's Sierra Hyland. The eight-inning game moved along quickly, lasting just one hour, 51 minutes.
Groenewegen tossed her fourth shutout of the season and ninth of her career on just 87 pitches, allowing just three Mustang singles.
To complete the win, Erica Meyer started the eighth inning on second base, per the international tiebreaker rule. After Palkovich sacrifice bunted Meyer to third, Cal Poly outfielder Emily Ceccacci allowed a Walker single to left field to drop in fair territory.
With the victory, Groenewegen matched her 2014 win total, improving to 14-2. She struck out six. The White Rock, B.C. native's career record is now 28-5.
Minnesota will pick up play Wednesday at No. 11 California before opening Big Ten play at Illinois. The Gophers are slated to play the Fighting Illini Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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