University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Purdue
Macken, Groenewegen Come Up Big
4/28/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Seniors Sam Macken and Sara Groenewegen have had big time careers for the University of Minnesota Gophers and kicked off senior weekend with great performances in an 8-0 victory over Purdue.
Macken homered twice including a fifth inning walk-off and Groenewegen tossed her seventh career no-hitter in the win.
Groenewegen earns her 7th Career NO-HITTER!
O ER 0 HITS 12 STRIKEOUTS@GopherSoftball#Gophers https://t.co/aHJN642CLe-- BTN Student U (@BTNStudentU) April 29, 2017
Tonight is the first no-hitter of the season for the Gophers but they have given up two or less hits in 18 games now and have a team ERA of 1.17 on the season. Groenewegen had 12 strikeouts this evening and has now hit 10 or more strikeouts in 11 games this year.
It was a dominant game all around for the Maroon and Gold as they did not commit an error and tallied nine hits. They wasted no time jumping out to a lead with four first inning runs.
Danielle Parlich got things started with her first of three singles on the day. She scored as Kendyl Lindaman nearly cleared the fence knocking an RBI-double off the wall in left center. Maddie Houlihan followed by drawing a walk. MaKenna Partain stepped up next with a single up the middle and reached third on an error as Lindaman and Houlihan crossed home.
Sydney Dwyer drove in the fourth run with a single through the right side. She keeps adding RBIs and is now up to 63 on the season.
Macken kept things rolling to start the second with a solo shot to left field. Later with two outs on the board Groenewegen smoked a single to left center to bring in two more runs.
In the third Groenewegen fired in three more strikeouts but Purdue was able to reach on a wild pitch. They had their best chance for a hit in the frame when they dropped a sneak bunt but Lindaman fielded it beautifully for the third out.
Groenewegen kept rolling with six strikeouts in the fourth and fifth innings. Macken put the game away in the bottom of the fifth with a home run to right. She now has six homers on the season.
WALK-OFF!! @smacken7 with the BLAST to end it for @GopherSoftball @saragroe finishes a 5 inning NO-NO with 12Ks! https://t.co/Pg2vhZS0cf
-- Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) April 29, 2017
With the win Groenewegen is now 24-2 in the circle with a 0.53 ERA and 227 strikeouts. The Gophers move to 46-3 on the season with a 16-1 Big Ten record. They have now won 17 straight games.
Schedule Reminder
Sunday's Gopher softball game has been moved to Saturday because of impending weather conditions and temperatures. The first game on Saturday will start at 12 p.m. and the second game will begin at 3 p.m. or 60 minutes after the conclusion of game one (whichever is later.)
Due to both games being sold out Saturday's tickets will be honored for game one and Sunday's tickets will be honored for game two. The stadium will be cleared after the first game and Sunday's tickets will be needed for admittance to game two.
The senior day ceremonies will take place prior to the first game. The first game on Saturday can still be viewed on the Big Ten Network while game two can be streamed on BTN Plus.
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