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April 12, 2005
Softball picks up steam with four wins
After a rough start on their spring break trip to Arizona, the Hamline softball team is beginning to fire on all cylinders. The Pipers are currently battling atop the MIAC with a record of 7-9 overall (3-1 MIAC) and are sitting in second place in the standings.
Split against Northwestern
The Pipers got their hot streak rolling March 31 with a doubleheader split against Northwestern College.
After losing a close battle in the first game 6-5, where the Pipers were led by Niki Seal and Sara Mickelson at the plate, the Pipers responded with an 8-1 victory.
First-year pitcher Whitney Strid had a great outing for the Pipers, pitching five innings, striking out four and giving up five hits. Strid was backed by strong Piper hitting, led by junior Rachael Young, who had a double and a triple.
Two wins against Augsburg
In their MIAC opener on April 2, the Pipers faced Augsburg and took both games of the doubleheader, 10-5 and 10-2. The Pipers fell behind early 3-0, but kept their composure and cut into the deficit.
The Pipers left the Auggies in the dust with solid hitting, especially in the bottom of the sixth inning, where they scored four runs on RBIs from four different hitters: Mickelson, Seal, Joan Sheedy, and Emily Gross.
In the second game, the Pipers didn’t waste any time. They were already up 4-2 by the fifth inning, when they scored an additional six, which started with Young’s two-run double.
The Pipers had eight different starters with at least one hit in the game and were led by Seal on the mound. Seal pitched five innings while allowing two runs.
Two wins against Martin Luther
The Pipers won another pair two days later against Martin Luther, taking both games of the doubleheader,
5-1 and 12-5. The Pipers had three triples in the first game, with all three scoring runners. Young, Sheedy, and Gage did the most damage. Seal picked up another win on the mound, pitching seven innings, giving up five hits and striking out seven.
In the second game of the double-header, the Pipers had a total of 20 hits en route to a 12-5 win. After a big first inning fueled by a three-run homer by Sheedy, the Pipers didn’t look back.
Strong hitting by Sheedy, Amanda Gage, Young, and Rachel Zahn helped the Pipers to victory. But Seal had the day’s second opportunity to pitch and won her second game of the day, striking out eight batters and yielding a single walk over seven innings.
Split against Concordia
Hamline continued their recent success on April 6 by splitting a double-header with Concordia.
The Pipers dropped the first game 10-9 but rebounded in the second game to secure a 8-5 win.
In game one, Concordia rallied from a 9-7 deficit to claim the 10-9 win. The game was back-and-forth throughout, but Hamline was unable to hold on.
In game two, Hamline scored five runs in the top of the third inning to take a 6-0 lead and held down a short rally from the Cobbers to take the conference win.
The Pipers’ bats are starting to get hot, but so is their defense. The rest of the season will be exciting to see how the Pipers can respond and if they can continue thier winning ways and make the conference tournament by season’s end.
Posted by msveum at April 12, 2005 04:16 PM
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