| |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
|
R |
H |
E |
Bethel
|
0 |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
|
3 |
9
|
0
|
Hamline
|
0 |
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
x
|
|
4
|
8
|
1
|
Hamline-Bethel Box Score
WINONA, Minn. — It was a fight to the finish, and Bethel certainly didn’t go down without a fight.
The Royals, trailing 4-1 heading into their final at-bat, came up one run short — leaving the tying run on third base with one out — as Hamline held on for a 4-3 victory in the loser’s bracket, elimination game of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament Friday evening at Winona Cotter Field.
With the win, the Pipers (28-10) advance to yet another elimination game, this one an 11 a.m. contest against Gustavus — 4-1 losers to St. Thomas in Friday’s winner’s bracket game at Saint Mary’s University — Saturday at the SMU Field. The loser of that contest is eliminated, while the winner earns a spot in the tournament’s title game vs. St. Thomas.
The Pipers, who opened the day with a 7-4 loss to St. Thomas in a game that included seven home runs, couldn’t get their offense on track until the fifth, when they scored a pair of runs on an RBI double by Heidi Larsen (Andover, Minn.) and a run-scoring infield single by Sophie Davidson (St. Paul, Minn.).
Bethel cut the margin in half with a RBI single by Tonia Erickson (Welcome, Minn.), but Hamline answered with its second straight two-run inning — this time getting a two-run home run from Ashley Anderberg with one out in the sixth.
The Royals made things interesting in the seventh, getting a lead-off single and a walk, and, after Lynnae Thompson’s (Stewartville, Minn.) ground-out to the pitcher moved the runners to second and third, Lauren Habisch delivered a two-run double to right field to make it a 4-3 game. A walk and a wild pitch gave Bethel runners on second and third with one out, but Hamline’s Jessalyn Weaver worked out of the jam by getting Lisa Patnode (Princeton, Minn.) to strike out and Rebecca Akerson (Lakeville, Minn.) to line out to third to end the threat — and the Royals’ season.
Davidson went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Anderberg was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs to pace the Hamline offensive attack, while Habisch, Ashley Johnsen (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Amber Beasley (Medina, Minn.) all had two hits for the Royals, who close out the season — and their first-ever appearance in the MIAC Tournament — with a 23-19 record.
