Rochester, Minn. – For the second straight day, the Gustavus softball team split a pair of games at the Rochester Community and Technical College dome. On Sunday, the Gusties defeated UW-Eau Claire 8-7 in nine innings before falling to Luther College 13-4 in six innings. With the split, the Gusties move to 2-2 after the opening weekend of the season.
Game 1 – Gustavus 8, UW-Eau Claire 7
After a scoreless three innings to open the game, UW-Eau Claire scored a run in the top of the fourth when Deanna Gilane singled to right field, scoring Taylor Pierce from third to put the Blugolds on top 1-0.
The lead would not last long, however, as the Gusties answered with a five-run bottom of the fourth. A pair of two-run doubles by Shelby Nosan (Jr., Baudette, Minn.) and Sarah Rozell (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.), coupled with an RBI double from Jaden Fischer (Jr., Brooklyn Park, Minn.) gave Gustavus a 5-1 lead heading into the final three innings.
After a scoreless fifth inning, the Casey Arnold led off the top of the sixth inning with a solo home run, but the Blugolds could not put any more across and went to the top of the seventh inning trailing 5-2.
UW-Eau Claire got the three runs it needed in the top of the final inning. A two-run double by Arnold with two outs pulled the Blugolds within one (5-4). Gustie pitcher Sarah Rozell got the ground ball she needed in the next at-bat, but an error allowed Taylor Pierce to reach first and Kayla Meixner to score from third. The run tied the score (5-5) and sent the two teams into extra innings.
After a scoreless eighth inning, UW-Eau Claire scored two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 7-5 lead, but it was not enough, as the Gusties came right back to score three runs in the bottom of the inning and capture the win in dramatic fashion. An RBI double to left by Sarah Rozell and a two-run single to right by Jaden Fischer did the damage for the Gusties in the win.
Rozell and Fischer each went 2 for 4 with three RBI for Gustavus in the win, but it was Fischer who knocked in the game-tying and –winning runs. Casey Arnold paced the Duhawks, going 3 for 5 at the plate with four RBI.
Sarah Rozell went all nine innings on the rubber allowing seven runs, just two of which were earned, and eight hits. Lauren Blasczyk suffered the loss for the Blugolds. She went four and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs and five hits.
Game 2 – Gustavus 4, Luther 13
Gustavus opened game two with a two-run top of the first inning. A pair of walks to lead off the game proved costly for Luther pitcher Becca Girvan, as each of the two batters came around to score on RBI singles by Kailey Morgan (Jr., Mound, Minn.) and Nathalee Boissiere (So., Plymouth, Minn.).
Luther answered with a pair of runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game on a two-run single by Kelsey Rose. Gustavus responded with a run in the top of the second, only to be answered with another pair of runs for the Norse in the bottom of the second.
From there, it was all Luther, as the Norse scored in each inning, compared to just one run in the top of the fourth for the Gusties. Luther scored three in the third, one in the fourth, three more in the fifth, and two in the sixth to capture the 13-4 victory in six innings.
Nathalee Boissiere led the way for the Gusties at the plate. Boissiere went 2 for 2 with a walk and two RBI. Miranda McCay led the Norse with a 3 for 5 day at the plate with a home run and five RBI.
Jessica Wiliams was given the loss after allowing 13 runs on 16 hits in five-plus innings of work. Becca Girvan was awarded the win in a four-run, five-hit performance in six innings.