University of Minnesota Athletics
Thursday, March 12
Honolulu, HI
12:00 AM
University of Minnesota
at
Hawaii
Players Mentioned
UT
/ Softball
UT
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RHP
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
Week Preview: Hawaii
3/10/2020 8:09:00 PM | Softball
The No. 19/19 University of Minnesota Gophers begin part two of the spring break trip with five games at the University of Hawaii this week.
The Gophers will play Hawaii and Texas Tech each twice and Drexel once before opening Big Ten conference play next weekend. You can stream the first game against Hawaii this Thursday at 12 a.m. CT if you are willing to stay up. The rest of the week will only have live stats and live Twitter updates. The Gophers are playing five hours behind time back home.
This will already be the fourth tournament of the year hosted by Hawaii while it's the sixth week on the road for the Gophers squad. Hawaii is 9-13 overall on the season and 7-8 at home. Texas Tech is 16-9 on the season and Drexel is 4-6 on the year.
Last Time Out
The Gophers went 2-2-1 at the Long Beach/UCLA Tournament. They picked up victories over Long Beach State (3-2) and Cal Poly (10-0) and took losses against Cal State Fullerton (2-0) and No. 1/1 UCLA (4-0). For the fifth time in program history Minnesota took a tie in an eight inning 5-5 battle with No. 22/22 UCF. The tie was the result of a drop dead time as the Gophers had a flight to Hawaii to catch.
Ellee Jensen slowly began to make her return over the weekend. The 2018 All-Big Ten honoree missed the majority of the 2019 season with injury and missed the first four weeks of the 2020 season. She played on a one game a day basis over the weekend and hit .500 with four runs, two RBIS and two sacrifice bunts.
Jensen helped the Gophers record seven steals in a 10-0 victory over Cal Poly. Previously, the Gophers only had 10 steals on the entire season.
Natalie DenHartog continued to swing a big bat. She smacked two doubles, a pair of home runs and led the team with seven RBIs over the weekend.
Amber Fiser went 2-1 in the circle including a complete game shutout against Cal Poly. She was one strike away from tossing a perfect game in the victory.
Fiser's Finest
Amber Fiser has already cemented herself as one of the top players in Gopher softball history and is making a case for one of the top players in all of NCAA softball. She is fifth all-time in program history in wins (81) and fifth strikeouts (805). With UCLA's Rachel Garcia taking an Olympic redshirt, Fiser is the NCAA active leader in strikeouts.
In 2019, Fiser was named a First Team NFCA All-American, was a Honda Cup Award Finalist and was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year. She ranked third in the NCAA in wins, fifth in strikeouts and 12th in ERA. Her 31 wins on the season tied for second all-time in program history and 346 strikeouts were third all-time. She set a school record and matched a conference record with six Big Ten Pitcher of the Week awards. She also picked up two NFCA Division I Pitcher of the Week awards.
Fiser can't seem to get over the 13-strikeout mark. She has hit the impressive number seven times in her career including twice already in 2020. She is fourth in the NCAA in season strikeouts with 139 already. The All-American tossed a no-hitter against Tulsa at the Baylor Invitational this year and a one-hitter against Cal Poly at UCLA. Fiser pitched four complete-game one-hitters in 2019. She has thrown three no-hitters in her career, one in 2020 and two in 2018. Her last perfect game was at Purdue on Apr. 27, 2018.
Run MaKenna, Run!
MaKenna Partain has etched her name into Gophers history and has a chance to leave as one of the most productive offensive players in team history but has done so quietly when it comes to national attention. She has already made 200 career starts with the majority of her action coming at second base. She is third in career runs at 184 and sixth in career doubles at 49. Both records are in reach as Tyler Walker holds the record with 197 career runs and Kaitlyn Richardson has the doubles record with 64. Partain spent last season as the Gophers leadoff batter and broke the program single season record with 66 runs. She also set program and Big Ten record with five runs scored at Maryland on Mar. 23.
Leading the Way
Natalie DenHartog leads Minnesota in batting average (.425), home runs (7), slugging percentage (.781), and on-base percentage (.538). DenHartog was named the Big Ten Player of the Week after her performance at the Auburn Tournament.
Pass the Pease, Please
In the circle, Autumn Pease has impressed with eight starts and a total of 14 appearances. The sophomore transfer has tossed 59 strikeouts and has allowed only 16 earned runs over 56.1 innings of work for a team leading 1.99 ERA and 4-2 record. Pease was selected as the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week after three lights out appearances at the Auburn Tournament.
.
Where in the World is Carlie Brandt!?
Carlie Brandt has played eight fielding positions and the DP spot (all but catcher) in her Gophers career. She has found a home at shortstop in the early part of 2020 and has made a big impact. She also returned to the circle and picked up a victory against Binghamton. It was her first pitching appearance since Feb. 16, 2019.
Check out Gopher Softball Weekly!
The fourth episode of the Gopher softball podcast is on location at Hawaii with Amber Fiser and Autumn Pease! Give a listen here.
Up Next
The Gophers open Big Ten play in Columbus, Ohio for a three game series with Ohio State March 20-22.
The Gophers will play Hawaii and Texas Tech each twice and Drexel once before opening Big Ten conference play next weekend. You can stream the first game against Hawaii this Thursday at 12 a.m. CT if you are willing to stay up. The rest of the week will only have live stats and live Twitter updates. The Gophers are playing five hours behind time back home.
This will already be the fourth tournament of the year hosted by Hawaii while it's the sixth week on the road for the Gophers squad. Hawaii is 9-13 overall on the season and 7-8 at home. Texas Tech is 16-9 on the season and Drexel is 4-6 on the year.
Last Time Out
The Gophers went 2-2-1 at the Long Beach/UCLA Tournament. They picked up victories over Long Beach State (3-2) and Cal Poly (10-0) and took losses against Cal State Fullerton (2-0) and No. 1/1 UCLA (4-0). For the fifth time in program history Minnesota took a tie in an eight inning 5-5 battle with No. 22/22 UCF. The tie was the result of a drop dead time as the Gophers had a flight to Hawaii to catch.
Ellee Jensen slowly began to make her return over the weekend. The 2018 All-Big Ten honoree missed the majority of the 2019 season with injury and missed the first four weeks of the 2020 season. She played on a one game a day basis over the weekend and hit .500 with four runs, two RBIS and two sacrifice bunts.
Jensen helped the Gophers record seven steals in a 10-0 victory over Cal Poly. Previously, the Gophers only had 10 steals on the entire season.
Natalie DenHartog continued to swing a big bat. She smacked two doubles, a pair of home runs and led the team with seven RBIs over the weekend.
Amber Fiser went 2-1 in the circle including a complete game shutout against Cal Poly. She was one strike away from tossing a perfect game in the victory.
Fiser's Finest
Amber Fiser has already cemented herself as one of the top players in Gopher softball history and is making a case for one of the top players in all of NCAA softball. She is fifth all-time in program history in wins (81) and fifth strikeouts (805). With UCLA's Rachel Garcia taking an Olympic redshirt, Fiser is the NCAA active leader in strikeouts.
In 2019, Fiser was named a First Team NFCA All-American, was a Honda Cup Award Finalist and was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year. She ranked third in the NCAA in wins, fifth in strikeouts and 12th in ERA. Her 31 wins on the season tied for second all-time in program history and 346 strikeouts were third all-time. She set a school record and matched a conference record with six Big Ten Pitcher of the Week awards. She also picked up two NFCA Division I Pitcher of the Week awards.
Fiser can't seem to get over the 13-strikeout mark. She has hit the impressive number seven times in her career including twice already in 2020. She is fourth in the NCAA in season strikeouts with 139 already. The All-American tossed a no-hitter against Tulsa at the Baylor Invitational this year and a one-hitter against Cal Poly at UCLA. Fiser pitched four complete-game one-hitters in 2019. She has thrown three no-hitters in her career, one in 2020 and two in 2018. Her last perfect game was at Purdue on Apr. 27, 2018.
Run MaKenna, Run!
MaKenna Partain has etched her name into Gophers history and has a chance to leave as one of the most productive offensive players in team history but has done so quietly when it comes to national attention. She has already made 200 career starts with the majority of her action coming at second base. She is third in career runs at 184 and sixth in career doubles at 49. Both records are in reach as Tyler Walker holds the record with 197 career runs and Kaitlyn Richardson has the doubles record with 64. Partain spent last season as the Gophers leadoff batter and broke the program single season record with 66 runs. She also set program and Big Ten record with five runs scored at Maryland on Mar. 23.
Leading the Way
Natalie DenHartog leads Minnesota in batting average (.425), home runs (7), slugging percentage (.781), and on-base percentage (.538). DenHartog was named the Big Ten Player of the Week after her performance at the Auburn Tournament.
Pass the Pease, Please
In the circle, Autumn Pease has impressed with eight starts and a total of 14 appearances. The sophomore transfer has tossed 59 strikeouts and has allowed only 16 earned runs over 56.1 innings of work for a team leading 1.99 ERA and 4-2 record. Pease was selected as the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week after three lights out appearances at the Auburn Tournament.
.
Where in the World is Carlie Brandt!?
Carlie Brandt has played eight fielding positions and the DP spot (all but catcher) in her Gophers career. She has found a home at shortstop in the early part of 2020 and has made a big impact. She also returned to the circle and picked up a victory against Binghamton. It was her first pitching appearance since Feb. 16, 2019.
Check out Gopher Softball Weekly!
The fourth episode of the Gopher softball podcast is on location at Hawaii with Amber Fiser and Autumn Pease! Give a listen here.
Up Next
The Gophers open Big Ten play in Columbus, Ohio for a three game series with Ohio State March 20-22.
Minnesota (4) - Michigan (0) Highlights
Friday, May 02
Sydney Schwartz Throws No-Hitter
Tuesday, April 29
Gophers (8) - North Dakota (0) Highlights
Sunday, April 27
Gophers (5) - North Dakota (3) Highlights
Saturday, April 26