Bailey Bouman hurled a five-hitter and Shae Reinke knocked in five total runs to propel USF to its second straight sweep of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponent. The Cougars flattened Minnesota Crookston 10-0 (five innings) in game one and held on for a 7-5 win in game two to move to .500 (8-8) in league play and 13-17 overall.
The Golden Eagles fell to 2-27 (1-17, NSIC).
The double-header was played at the Morningside Little League Complex in Sioux City, due to unplayable conditions in Sioux Falls.
USF 10, Minnesota Crookston 0 (five innings)
Bouman (6-5) dominated in the circle from the first pitch and the celebrations at home plate were plentiful, as USF routed the Golden Eagles 10-0 in the opener. The junior right-hander scattered five hits in five innings, striking out one and walking none. A strikeout pitcher by trade, Bouman was ground ball machine today, inducing nine ground outs and just five fly-outs.
After a scoreless first, the Cougars loaded the bases in the second and freshman Shae Hoskins helped ignite the offensive surge with a sacrifice ground-out that plated Katie Larson, who notched a lead-off walk. Erin Scott doubled home Shae Reinke (reached on error) and Betsy Thomas (fielder's choice) to give USF a 3-0 advantage.
In the third, USF doubled its lead to 6-0 when Hoskins laced a two-run single before Scott legged out an infield hit to score Thomas, who had walked to first. The Cougars put a four-spot on the board in the fourth inning with a quartet of RBI hits from Kellen Dewey, Reinke, Katie Mikos and Megan Mumaugh. Bouman then sent the Golden Eagles down in order in the top of the fifth to bring the mercy rule into effect.
USF scored its 10 runs on 10 hits. Scott was 2-for-2 with three runs batted in and Hoskins finished 1-for-3 with three RBI.
USF 7, Minnesota Crookston 5
Game two was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, when the Cougars batted around and scored five runs behind Reinke's two RBI base knock and a two-run single off the bat of freshman Samantha Kane. Thomas opened scoring when she singled home Amanda Walters, who reached base via a one-out walk.
The Golden Eagles broke up the shutout in a hurry. UMC's Alexia Khoshabo took the first offering from USF starter Walters in the top of the fifth and drilled it over the center field fence for a one-run homer. Walters' bases-loaded wild pitch allowed Crookston to score a second run but she limited the damage by forcing the next batter to ground out to second base.
USF got the runs back in the bottom half of the inning when Reinke again delivered a two-run base hit, this time plating Thomas, who beat the throw on an infield single and Larson, who earned a lead-off hit by pitch.
Yet the Golden Eagles refused to quit and they rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh, chasing Walters and cutting the deficit to 7-5 on Brooke Timmins' two-run moon shot. Crookston scored its first run on an error by the right fielder. Bouman relieved Walters with one out and slammed the door shut to pick up her first save of the season.
Walters (6-11) earned her second straight win in the circle, yielding five runs on six hits with four walks in 6.1 innings of work. She allowed two home runs and fanned six batters.
Reinke paced the Cougars at the plate, where she finished 2-for-3 with four RBI and a run scored. Kane went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in and Thomas had a 2-for-3 outing with one RBI and a pair of runs scored.
The Cougars stranded six runners and committed two errors in the field.
USF will travel to Wayne State College tomorrow.
