st. Paul, minn. - rally hats were donned in two games that opened 2009 play at dunning field in st. Paul, minn. This afternoon. The golden bears made late runs in both games against #24 minnesota state (23-7, 4-2 nsic), successfully pulling out a 5-4 win in the second game after falling 3-1 in the first. stephanie schmikla threw the team on her back, giving up runs in only one inning during the first game and coming back with a second complete game thrown to finish the day. The golden bears are 21-15 overall and 5-3 in the nsic. They host st. Cloud state in non-conference action on friday starting at 3:00 at dunning field.
it was a pitcher's duel in the opening game of the series between concordia university and #24 minnesota state. Both team's pitchers worked through six scoreless innings and gave up runs in only one frame. Concordia's stephanie schmikla did a great job holding off the mavericks through four innings, allowing only two hits in the first four frames.
minnesota state was the first to strike, putting up three runs from three hits and a walk in the fifth inning. The inning started with a double that hopped the fence from libbie reichling. A walk and sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third and, with a single that reached center field, the scoreless game quickly went to 2-0 in favor of the mavericks. Another double drove in the final run for minnesota state before schmikla sent msu down.
the golden bear defense stranded msu runners at second and third in the sixth inning, which proved to be an important stop with an impending rally on the way for concordia. Schmikla continued to frustrate minnesota state hitters, striking out four early on and then keeping most outs to groundouts.
concordia's offense scattered only a few hits around the field during the first six innings, trying to find their groove against a strong kendra huettle pitcher. They made the mavericks sweat for the first time in their final set of outs, avoiding a shutout and making a run at the game. The inning started with sami mattson reaching on an error. tiff rodd drilled the first solidly hit concordia ball, doubling to right center to score mattson and put the golden bears on the board. nikki scherr had a long at-bat before reaching on a walk, with rodd making her way to third on a wild pitch.
things continued to heat up as concordia put the tying run in scoring position with a katie anderson sacrifice bunt. One of the team's top hitters stepped to the plate in anna bjorlin, who took several pitches before taking her shot and making contact. She put the ball into play, but msu's second baseman scooped it up to end the concordia rally.
schmikla allowed msu only six hits in the meeting and received errorless play from her defense. The golden bears had four hits in the game with the single rbi going to rodd.
it was a wild ride in concordia's half of the sixth inning as the golden bears this time completed the comeback, scoring three runs but never getting the ball past the infield. Down 3-2 with the mavericks seemingly taking the momentum away after scoring three unanswered to overcome the early 2-0 cu lead, the golden bears started their upheaval of the mavericks with a sami mattson single. nikki scherr and katie anderson then loaded the bases on two outs, scherr reaching on a walk and anderson marking an infield single to load things up, which is when the action really got started.
anna bjorlin hit a roller toward second base where the fielder flipped the ball to the bag to try to get out of the inning. But with anderson's speed, the freshman safely reached and the action continued. Mattson, meanwhile, had crossed the plate from third base and right behind her was scherr, who never hesitated in rounding the corner. The throw to the plate had a chance to get the out and leave the game tied, but as the golden bears held their breath, the umpire waved her arms to declare scherr safe, stunning the mavericks who suddenly found themselves down.
the golden bears had reclaimed the lead 4-3, but they did not relent and put on the double steal. The msu defense was apparently still shaking as the throw down from the catcher went without a recipient and sailed into left field, allowing anderson to continue ahead and set the mark at 5-3. The run proved necessary as a maverick home run drew the game to 5-4, but cu held on for the series split by stranding the final two msu baserunners.
the golden bears wasted no time in getting on the board early in the game. They put up runs in the first and second innings to lead the mavericks 2-0. natalie mast singled to left field and came around to score in the opening inning, with the rbi coming from a jamie lindboe single.
tiff rodd led off the second inning with a double that reached the fence. The team continued to hit around brooke mckelvogue as anderson dumped a double over the center fielder's head, scoring rodd and putting herself in scoring position.
after pitching so effectively in the first game, stephanie schmikla returned for more action as the starting pitcher of game 2. Msu hitters tagged concordia for one-run innings in the fourth through seventh innings with two of the runs coming unearned, but the sophomore maintained her composure in each frame to avoid a big inning to stay in the running for the win. She drew the majority of her outs from fly balls and improved to 11-8 on the year with back-to-back complete games.
the golden bears out-hit minnesota state 8-7 in the game, taking two doubles from rodd and gratefully taking bjorlin's two rbi as the game's leader. The maverick's two solo shots were the only earned runs given up in the game.
