saint paul, minn. - the golden bears (27-19, 10-12 nsic) split with southwest minnesota state (25-16, 13-8 nsic) on friday afternoon on a windy day at carlander field. tessa ewert's first inning grand slam proved to be enough in game one. ashley kluever picked up the win in game one as she pitched a pair of complete games on the afternoon. game 1 box | game 2 box | photo gallery
game 1
ashley kluever picked up a pair of strikeouts in the first inning as she put the mustangs down in order. The golden bears picked up a pair of singles to start the first. A ground out by calli brennan moved the runners to second and third with one out. After a walk of mattson; cu was poised to score a run in the first inning for the 19th time this season. erin tjornhom reached on a fielder's choice as katie anderson was cut down at the plate via the force out. With two outs ewert was concordia's last chance to score. After it appeared she walked to score larsen from second a late strike call loaded the count. Ewert came through on the full count as she deposited a belt high fast ball on to marshall avenue.
kluever picked up another strikeout in the second as she put smsu down in order once again. Concordia picked up another run in the bottom of the second as anderson picked up a single and then stole second scoring on a two out single by larsen to left center.
after kluever struck out the side in the third cu also went down in order. Kluever stayed perfect through the fourth picking up another strikeout. Anderson picked up another single in the fourth and then brynn larsen was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with two away. The threat was neutralized as brennan grounded out to end the inning. After going down in order in the top of the fifth kluever was flirting with a perfect game. The game stayed 5-0 in favor of cu through the fifth as concordia couldn't take advantage of a smsu error.
the mustangs figured out kluever in the sixth as they broke up the perfect game bid with a single to right field to open up the sixth. After a strikeout a walk put a runner in scoring position with one away. A foul out to sami mattson in foul territory meant there was two down in the inning. Another walk loaded the bases as smsu threatened to get back in the game. The second grand slam of the game brought the mustangs within one at 5-4.
concordia got breathing room in the bottom of the inning as cu rallied for a two out run when larsen singled and then scored on a calli brennan single to right center. Kluever allowed a one out solo shot to left field but finished the game to get the complete game win.
anderson went 3-4 in game one, larsen went 3-3 with an rbi and two runs scored. Ewert finished the game 1-3 but drove in four.
game 2
the second game of the doubleheader started much differently as the mustangs took advantage of two cu error's scoring a pair of runs in the first inning. Cu got a pair of runners on in the bottom of the inning but failed to put anyone across the plate.
the game remained 2-0 in favor of the mustangs until the top of the fourth where a one out homerun extended the lead to 3-0. Mattson, the nation's leader in homeruns, hit her 19th homerun of the year in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 3-1.
that was a close as the golden bears would get as the mustangs pitched out of jam in the bottom of the fifth. A double steal attempt by anderson and larsen saw anderson get gunned down at third.
southwest minnesota state picked up a pair of runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to take game two by a 6-1 score.
