University of Minnesota Athletics
Saturday, March 2
Tucson, AZ
12:15 PM
University of Minnesota
10-5
4
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Drake
10-9
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7
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H
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Drake
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Minnesota
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X
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Photo by: Mike Janes
Gophers Split Day Two at Wildcat Invitational
3/2/2019 7:10:00 PM | Softball
Tucson, Ariz.- The No. 23/RV University of Minnesota Gophers split day two of the Wildcat Invitational, beating Drake (4-1) and falling to No. 12/12 Arizona (2-0).
Minnesota is now 10-6 on the season with five of the six losses coming against teams ranked No. 12 or higher in the country. The Maroon and Gold will close out the weekend with another top-25 matchup tomorrow against No. 19/19 James Madison. First pitch is set for 12:15 p.m. CT and can be streamed on FloSoftball.
Game 1: Minnesota 4, Drake 1
Amber Fiser picked right back up where she left off yesterday against Drake. After setting a career high in strikeouts yesterday with 12, she notched 13 today.
In the bottom of the second, the Gophers loaded the bases with Natalie DenHartog, Emma Burns and Carlie Brandt without registering a hit. A chopper up the middle from Ali Lindner was enough to plate DenHartog and Burns to give the Gophers a 2-0 lead over the Bulldogs.
The Gophers kept Drake off the board until the fifth inning when they hit a solo homer to left field with no outs on the board. Later in the frame, Drake looked to threaten again after back-to-back walks but Fiser settled in and recorded a third out strikeout to get out of trouble.
The Gophers answered in the bottom of the fifth. MaKenna Partain got Minnesota's offense started up again with a lead off double. She tagged up to third on a Maddie Houlihan fly out scored right after as Hope Brandner reached on a fielding error. Macy Gill came into the game as a pinch runner for Brandner and quickly worked her way around the bases. She moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a DenHartog single to center to make it 4-1 Gophers.
Partain kept her strong weekend going in the sixth with a triple to center field on a full count, but the Gophers were unable to do anything with it.
Fiser retired six of the last seven Drake batters to finish the game. Her 13 strikeouts set a new career high. She has 25 strikeouts on the weekend and is 6-4 this season with a 1.47 ERA and 84 strikeouts.
Game 2: Arizona 2, Minnesota 0
Both teams only combined for six hits in the game but an Arizona home run in the first inning was the difference maker.
Houlihan recorded Minnesota's first hit of the game in the top of first with a standup double to right field. She made it to third but the Gophers were unable to get her home. The Wildcats hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first. Sydney Smith and the Minnesota defense was solid from there on.
With a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, Arizona put runners on first and third with no outs. Lindner and Brandt each came up with clean outs to get out of trouble and the Maroon and Gold put away the next six batters in a row between the third and fourth innings. The biggest out in that stretch was when Smith caught a batter looking for out three in the fourth.
Katelyn Kemmetmueller started the fifth off with a triple to right field, but was later thrown out at home.
Rachel Lowary came into pitch for Smith in the fifth and was solid. Three walks loaded the bases for Arizona in the sixth with only one out on the board but Lowary stayed steady with a strikeout and forced groundout to keep the Gophers within striking distance.
Smith took the loss in the circle and is now 3-2. She had one strikeout and allowed two earned runs. Lowary went two innings with two strikeouts and allowed only one hit.
Minnesota is now 10-6 on the season with five of the six losses coming against teams ranked No. 12 or higher in the country. The Maroon and Gold will close out the weekend with another top-25 matchup tomorrow against No. 19/19 James Madison. First pitch is set for 12:15 p.m. CT and can be streamed on FloSoftball.
Game 1: Minnesota 4, Drake 1
Amber Fiser picked right back up where she left off yesterday against Drake. After setting a career high in strikeouts yesterday with 12, she notched 13 today.
In the bottom of the second, the Gophers loaded the bases with Natalie DenHartog, Emma Burns and Carlie Brandt without registering a hit. A chopper up the middle from Ali Lindner was enough to plate DenHartog and Burns to give the Gophers a 2-0 lead over the Bulldogs.
The Gophers kept Drake off the board until the fifth inning when they hit a solo homer to left field with no outs on the board. Later in the frame, Drake looked to threaten again after back-to-back walks but Fiser settled in and recorded a third out strikeout to get out of trouble.
The Gophers answered in the bottom of the fifth. MaKenna Partain got Minnesota's offense started up again with a lead off double. She tagged up to third on a Maddie Houlihan fly out scored right after as Hope Brandner reached on a fielding error. Macy Gill came into the game as a pinch runner for Brandner and quickly worked her way around the bases. She moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a DenHartog single to center to make it 4-1 Gophers.
Partain kept her strong weekend going in the sixth with a triple to center field on a full count, but the Gophers were unable to do anything with it.
Fiser retired six of the last seven Drake batters to finish the game. Her 13 strikeouts set a new career high. She has 25 strikeouts on the weekend and is 6-4 this season with a 1.47 ERA and 84 strikeouts.
Game 2: Arizona 2, Minnesota 0
Both teams only combined for six hits in the game but an Arizona home run in the first inning was the difference maker.
Houlihan recorded Minnesota's first hit of the game in the top of first with a standup double to right field. She made it to third but the Gophers were unable to get her home. The Wildcats hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first. Sydney Smith and the Minnesota defense was solid from there on.
With a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, Arizona put runners on first and third with no outs. Lindner and Brandt each came up with clean outs to get out of trouble and the Maroon and Gold put away the next six batters in a row between the third and fourth innings. The biggest out in that stretch was when Smith caught a batter looking for out three in the fourth.
Katelyn Kemmetmueller started the fifth off with a triple to right field, but was later thrown out at home.
Rachel Lowary came into pitch for Smith in the fifth and was solid. Three walks loaded the bases for Arizona in the sixth with only one out on the board but Lowary stayed steady with a strikeout and forced groundout to keep the Gophers within striking distance.
Smith took the loss in the circle and is now 3-2. She had one strikeout and allowed two earned runs. Lowary went two innings with two strikeouts and allowed only one hit.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Fiser, Amber (6-4)
L: Newman,Nicole (4-4)
Batting:
HR: Pena,Taryn 1
RBI: Pena,Taryn 1
SH: Ryan,Libby 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pena,Taryn 1
Batting:
2B: Partain, MaKenna 1
3B: Partain, MaKenna 1
RBI: Brandner, Hope 1 ; DenHartog, Natalie 1 ; Lindner, Ali 2
SH: Kemmetmueller, Katelyn 1 ; Brandt, Carlie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Partain, MaKenna 1 ; Gill, Macy 1 ; DenHartog, Natalie 1 ; Burns, Emma 1
HBP: Burns, Emma 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Softball
UT
/ Softball
C/UT
/ SoftballUT
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
UT
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P/UT
/ SoftballINF
/ Softball
RHP
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