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Pointers Beat
Wartburg and Fall to Tommies
UW-Stevens Point had an impressive start to its
NCAA Division III softball regional appearance on Thursday, but ran into
the nation�s top-ranked team later in the day and will have to battle
through the loser�s bracket to stay alive in Decorah, Iowa.
The Pointers opened the day with an 8-2 win over
Wartburg, but then fell victim to St. Thomas� 36th straight win as the
Tommies posted a 6-2 triumph. UW-Stevens Point faces Gustavus Adolphus in
an elimination game on Friday at noon. The winner will face either Webster
(Mo.) or Wartburg at 4 p.m. The Pointers are now 33-9 overall and need to
win six straight games over the next three days to claim a berth to the
Division III World Series.
�It�s going to take a tremendous effort over the
next three days, but this team has been through a lot and they know what
they need to do,� Pointers� coach Ann Munzenmaier said. �If we just keep
our same approach and stay focused, we�ll see what happens.�
UW-Stevens Point�s day got off to a hot start as
Mandy Jellish led off the opening inning against Wartburg (27-7) with a
triple and scored on a two-out home run by Korryn Brooks. The Pointers
added two more runs in the third inning with three straight singles by
Jackie Berger, Laura Van Abel and Brooks before Stephanie Anderson hit a
deep fly ball that was misplayed to allow a run to score. Danielle Ashbeck
blasted a two-run homer in the fifth and Jellish and Berger hit
back-to-back doubles in the sixth.
Anderson pitched the first three innings before
giving way to Hope Krause, who earned the win by throwing the last four
frames. The Pointers were one strike away from winning by the eight-run
rule in the sixth inning, but Wartburg�s Ali Hartzler hit a two-run homer
to extend the game and avoid just its second shutout of the year. Jellish,
Berger and Brooks each had two hits for the Pointers, who had six of their
nine hits for extra bases and took advantage of five Knights� errors.
�I thought our hitting approach was very solid in
the first five innings, but we seemed to stray from that near the end of
the first game and throughout the second game,� Munzenmaier said.
In the second game, the Tommies (42-2) took
advantage of a dropped fly ball and throwing error on the same play to
score a first inning run without a hit. Carrie Embree added a solo homer
in the third and St. Thomas added another run in the fourth when Linh Tran
scored as the Pointers tagged out another runner in a rundown. Morgan
Betker ripped a three-run homer in the fifth following an error for a 6-0
lead.
�Our pitchers really did a nice job today,� said
Munzenmaier, who faced her collegiate coach from St. Mary�s and current
Tommies� coach, John Tschida, for the first time. �Unfortunately, we had
some lapses defensively and you just can�t do that at this level.�
Van Abel drove in a run on an infield single in
the sixth and the Pointers loaded the bases with none out in the seventh,
but settled for one run on a sacrifice fly by Chelsea McIlquham. Van Abel
was two-for-three and extended her hitting streak to 19 games, while
Stephanie Moores was three-for-three for St. Thomas. |
