Gustavus softball earned a split against conference rival St. Thomas Wednesday afternoon as the Tommies won game one 2-1 and the Gusties won game two 3-2 in St. Peter. Gustavus is now 23-7 overall and 17-3 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. St. Thomas dropped its second game of the season, and its first in the MIAC. The Tommies move to 34-2 overall and 17-1 in the MIAC.
Game 1 – St. Thomas 2 Gustavus Adolphus 1
Gustavus got out to a 1-0 lead in the first game when, with the bases loaded, Emily Klein (Fr., Red Wing, Minn.) hit a sacrifice fly to right field and Rachael Click (Fr., Rochester, Minn.) tagged from third and scored. Earlier, Click had singled, Audrey Lenoch (Sr., Pine Island, Minn.) trickled a double into right, and Abby Bernstein (Jr., St. Paul, Minn.) walked to load the bases. The Gusties were unable to produce another run, however. St. Thomas’s Maria Bye laid down a bunt in the sixth inning that scored Nikki Conway. The next batter, Mandy Evans, hit a blooper over Lenoch’s head with one out, which loaded the bases. Janet Nagle, a pinch-hitter, hit a grounder to Lenoch who threw it home, but Bernstein was unable to apply the tag on Ashley Tuttle in time. Joyce DeWitz (Sr., Good Thunder, Minn.) and the Gusties managed to record the next two outs and escaped the inning only down 2-1. Unfortunately, Gustavus could not produce another run and the game ended at 2-1.
Game 2 – Gustavus Adolphus 3 St. Thomas 2
In the first inning of the second game, the Tommies loaded the bases with one out, but DeWitz was able to strike out Nagle to end the threat. St. Thomas’ Bye slapped a two out single in the third inning that scored Carrie Embree to go up 1-0, but Bye was thrown out trying to advance to second. Gustavus took the lead in the fifth inning when Erin Ge (So., Shorewood, Minn.) roped a triple to right field, and the next batter, Julie Mahre (So., White Bear Lake, Minn.), brought her home with a double. Mahre, who stole third, scored on a Mary Furlong (Sr., Mound, Minn.) single for a 2-1 lead. The Tommies tied the game in the top of the seventh when Morgan Betker, who got on base with a single, scored on a Conway double to tie the game at 2-2. In the bottom of the seventh the Gusties loaded the bases with no one out. First-year outfielder Klein hit a ground ball to second base that allowed Furlong to score the winning run from third.
DeWitz pitched all 14 innings in the doubleheader, giving up two runs in each game and striking out eight total batters. She recorded the win in the second game and is now 16-4 on the season.
Nagle, who was the losing pitcher in the second game for St. Thomas, was handed her sixth loss ever and is 75-6 on her career. She also lost her first ever MIAC game moving her record to 41-1 against league opponents. The loss also snapped Nagle’s NCAA record 34-game win streak.
The Gusties ended the Tommies’ 49-game win streak against Division III opponents and 28 consecutive games against MIAC opposition. St. Thomas has won 66 of 68 games since losing the second game of last season’s doubleheader against Gustavus.
Gustavus has won 23 of 26 since losing four straight games at the start of the season.
The Gusties will travel to St. Joseph to play St. Benedict in the MIAC regular season finale on Saturday with the first game starting at 1:00pm.