st. Cloud, minn. - the golden bear softball team (2-0) got the season off on the right foot, claiming a 2-1 win over #13-ranked lewis university (0-1) and a 4-3 win over ny institute of technology on saturday at the husky dome classic. The golden bears struck first and early in both games freshman calli brennan led the team with four hits in five at-bats on the day and notching both rbi against lewis.
the golden bears out-hit #13 lewis 6-4 in the first game of the season, with brennan's rbi infield single scoring natalie mast in the first inning. Cu's second run came in the fifth, as anna bjorlin led things off with a single to left center. The golden bears strung together a hit and two walks on two outs to cross bjorlin to go up 2-0, with the rbi coming from brennan's base on balls.
concordia's stephanie schmikla earned her first win of the year, throwing a complete game from the circle with three strikeouts and one earned run. She did not walk a batter and, with the help of the golden bear defense behind her, allowed lewis only one runner to get in scoring position through the first five innings of work.
abby brundidge went 2-of-3 at the plate, posting the team's first multi-hit performance of the season. The golden bears played a clean fielding game, committing just one error that did not lead to any trouble in the third inning.
the only run scored by lewis came from the long ball from the lead-off batter in the sixth.
the golden bears once again put the first runs on the board against ny institute of technology. The bottom of the order had the most production in the afternoon game, with eight of the game's 11 hits coming from the sixth through ninth batters. calli brennan and tiff rodd put back-to-back hits into the outfield on one out in the second inning. sami mattson laid down a bunt single to score the game's first run, followed by a sacrifice fly from nikki scherr for a 2-0 lead.
the golden bears notched another two runs in the fourth inning, with brennan leading things off with a triple in the center field gap. The freshman scored as rodd gained a bag on an error. A stolen base put the cu junior in scoring position, where she later scored from a scherr single to center field.
the golden bears took a 4-0 lead into the fifth inning, where nyit finally saw success after stranding at least one baserunner in each of the previous four innings. A two-bagger scored the team's first two runs of the game. Nyit scored another run on a two-out rally in the sixth, but concordia's schmikla closed things out with a save to put concordia at 2-0 on the season.
brennan went 3-of-3 at the plate in the second game with two runs scored. Rodd was 2-of-3 with her set of runs, while scherr picked up two of the team's three rbi. cassye mcmahon pitched four innings of scoreless work and struck out three in her 4.2 innings from the circle.
