| |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
|
8 |
R |
H |
E |
Hamline
|
4 |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0 |
4 |
4
|
3
|
Gustavus
|
1 |
0
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
3
|
Gustavus-Hamline Box Score
WINONA, Minn. — They dodged a bullet in the seventh, but they couldn’t do it again in the eighth.
Hamline escaped a first-and-second, two-out situation in the bottom of the seventh inning of Saturday’s elimination game against Gustavus in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, but when the Gusties got a runner on second with two out, the Pipers weren’t quite as lucky.
GAC’s Emily Klein (Red Wing, Minn.) delivered a game-winning single to left-center, scoring pinch runner Mackenzie Weber (St. Peter, Minn.) from second, as the defending regular-season champion Gusties beat Hamline 5-4 at the SMU Field to earn a spot opposite St. Thomas in Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. tournament championship game at the SMU Field.
Gustavus, which lost to St. Thomas 4-1 in a winner’s bracket game on Friday, must beat the Tommies twice to receive the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Pipers appeared to have everything under control early, scoring four times off GAC starter Callie Nelsen (Willmar, Minn.) in the top of the first inning. Hamline sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning, getting three hits — including an RBI single by Kristi Gravern (Maplewood, Minn.) — while also scoring on a pair of fielder’s choice plays at the plate and a bases-loaded walk.
GAC got one run back in the bottom of the first on a two-out home run to left off the bat of Rachael Click (Rochester, Minn.). The Gusties would continue to claw back, scoring another solo run in the third on an infield single by Jenny Ewert (St. James, Minn.), before knotting the game at 4-4 on a two-run single by Andrea Brown (Willmar, Minn.) in the bottom of the fifth.
Neither team would score in the sixth or seventh, setting up Klein’s eighth-inning heroics.
Hamline was limited to four hits in its final game of the season — three of which came in the first inning — while Gustavus finished with six hits, including two off the bat of Ewert.
