University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Illinois
Gophers Sweep Illinois at Home
4/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
The No. 22/22 University of Minnesota Gophers capped off the weekend with a 6-2 victory completing a sweep over the University of Illinois.
"Illinois is a tough team. They can swing it as well as anyone in the conference so for us to come out and beat them three times is a huge sweep," head Coach Jessica Allister said. "I thought we put together great at bats all weekend, our pitching did a good job of pitching ahead and we played errorless defense all weekend. If you can pitch ahead and play errorless defense you are going to win a lot of ball games."
Sam Macken had a big day at bat with her team leading eighth home run and first triple of the season going 2-2 for three RBI.
She wasted no time putting the Gophers on the board in the bottom of the first driving a ball into the wind and over the right field wall.
The Gophers kept grinding all afternoon putting up one run in each of the first four innings.
Their second run came after Paige Palkovich sparked the offense with a two out double. Kayla Wenner followed with a single and Sydney Dwyer was walked. Macken earned another RBI drawing a walk as Palkovich trotted across home plate.
Dani Wagner made a big defensive play the top of the third inning when she snagged a line drive and threw over to Macken at third for a double play to get the Gophers field out of a jam.
In the bottom of the third, the Gophers again stayed tough with two outs on the board. Maddie Houlihan doubled to right center and would later score on an error.
The Gophers field forced another three up, three down in the fourth inning. Sara Groenewegen did not allow a single hit in the first four innings and picked the complete game win. She is 19-4 on the season with an ERA of 1.90.
Yet again in the bottom of the fourth a Gopher came up with a clutch play with two outs on the board. Macken dropped a triple right along the right field line for her first of the season. She was able to score on an error the next play.
The Illini pulled within two scoring two runs in the fifth. They placed their first two runners, had them moved over on a sacrifice and scored them on a single.
In the sixth inning Dwyer plopped a single into shallow center after falling behind in the count. She moved all the way to third when Sydney Fabian came up and recorded a sacrifice hit while also being aided by an error to put runners on second and third.
Macken recorded her third RBI of the day with a deep sacrifice fly to the center field warning track. Taylor LeMay brought Danielle Parlich home later in the inning with an RBI double to center field.
The Gophers closed the door in the top of the seventh inning to take the victory and the weekend sweep. They improve to 27-10 on the season with an 8-1 conference record. The Maroon and Gold will be right back at Jane Sage Cowles on Tuesday hosting Wisconsin for a doubleheader that starts at 4 p.m.
