Pipers' split puts them in the playoffs

As the game was getting started, the conference office announced that Jourdan Ulrich (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn.) earned co-hitter of the week honors after hitting .533 with nine runs and only three strikeouts, as well as being perfect in the field. Jessalyn Weaver (So., Eagan, Minn.) was named the MIAC pitcher of the week after going 4-1 with a save last week. She posted an ERA of 1.03 in 34 innings pitched, giving up just five earned runs, struck out 19 and threw four complete games and a shutout.

Hamline scored a run in the first, and then five each in the second and third innings for the 11-0 win, as Ulrich and Weaver picked up where they had left off at the end of their award-winning weeks. As Weaver took to the rubber once again, and continued her award-worthy performance, giving up just three hits while going the distance in game one as the Pipers clinched their second consecutive playoff berth.

Ulrich went 3-for-3 with three runs scored, a triple and her 14th stolen base of the year.

Sophie Davidson (So., St. Paul, Minn.) went 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI in the win, while Sarah Dittberner (Jr., Forest Lake, Minn.) hit her first homerun of the season, and Heidi Larsen (Fy., Andover, Minn.) hit her second in as many games. Larsen also added a double in the win, as she went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI.

In game two, each team came out swinging, with the Pipers getting 16 hits in the losing effort, but the Wildcats were able to tally seven more runs with their 14 hits.

Hamline owned a 4-3 heading into the third inning before St. Catherine scored a run on an RBI single, and then Kaytlyn Mount (Jr., Bloomington, Minn.) hit a grand slam to put the Wildcats up 9-4. The round-tripper was Mount’s first of the year, as she went 1-for-5 in the game with one run scored and five RBI. 

Andrea Boser (Jr., Wahkon, Minn.) hit a solo Wildcat homerun in the fourth to go up 10-4, and the Wildcats continued scoring by adding two in the fifth and three in the sixth. The Pipers put up three runs in the sixth to make the final score of the finale 14-7.

Boser went 2-for-5 in the second game with two runs scored and an RBI. Kayla Webster was 3-for-4 in the game with two runs scored and two RBI.

With the split in their final MIAC regular season series, the Pipers are at 22-12, 16-6 MIAC while the Wildcats are 9-19, 6-10 MIAC. Hamline will host UW-Stout tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29, at 4:00 p.m. in their final regular season doubleheader.