SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus softball team hosted Concordia for its first two home contests of the 2019 campaign and split with the Cobbers. With the results the Gusties move to 11-7 overall and 2-2 in the MIAC.
The Gusties couldn’t get anything going in game one offensively against Megan Gavin of Concordia as they were held to just two hits. The Cobbers got an unearned run in the first and then took advantage of an errant throw in the second to tally their three runs. Gustavus scored their lone run of the contest in the third when Ashley Beise (Sr., Loretto, Minn.) walked, was bunted to second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a groundout. The Gusties threatened in the bottom of the seventh with Aly Freeman (Jr., Omaha, Neb.) singling to start the inning and Kenzie Skuza (Fy., Princeton, Minn.)reaching on an error but Gavin answered the call and shut the door to take the win.
Xandra Zachman (Fy., Saint Peter, Minn.) and Freeman recorded the only two Gustavus hits in the contest.
Ashley Neuenfeldt (So., Bloomington, Minn.) took the loss in the contest, going seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits.
Game two was an offensive battle as the teams combined for 20 hits in the contest. The Cobbers started the game with back-to-back doubles to plate a run early but Freeman settled in on the mound and produced a great effort. In the win she went all seven innings, allowed three earned runs and struck out five.
Freeman also produced the first two Gustie runs of the contest when Neuenfeldt doubled in the first inning and Freeman blasted a home run to center to take a 2-1 lead. The Cobbers answered in the top of the second but it was all Gusties after that. Gustavus scored a run in all six innings in the contest en rout to the victory. Caitlin Kammerer (Jr., Watertown, Minn.) , Neuenfeldt, Zachman, and Kaylyn Leonard (Fy., Plymouth, Minn.) all produced multiple hits in the contest with Neuenfeldt registering three. Zachman and Leonard each went two for two in the game and walked twice to reach base all four times. Freeman produced a team-best three RBI’s in the contest while Kammerer, Neuenfeldt, and Zachman all scored two runs.
The Gusties will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to St. Olaf for a doubleheader beginning at 3:30 p.m.