St. Cloud, MN – The University of Sioux Falls softball began their season at the Kelly Laas Memorial Tournament with two tough contested games on Friday night. The Cougars dropped Game 1 with a loss to Northwestern College (IA), 3-0, and a Game 2 loss to SMSU, 8-4.
Game One: USF 0, Northwestern College (IA) 3
Hanna Cress pitched six hard fought innings, surrendering three runs (two earned) and six hits in the season debut for the Cougars.
The game was tied 0-0 through five innings tonight and in the 6
th inning, NWC struck first with an RBI single to right field by Bri Giordano. Kameryn Etherington added a 2
nd run on an RBI single in the 6
th, scoring Giordano to take a 2-0 lead. In the final inning, Erika McKenney hit a sacrifice fly for NWC, scoring Jordyn Kramer for the final run of the game, a score of 3-0.
Lexie Swift was 2 for 3 with a triple and
Damaris Cuevas added a double for the Cougars, who ended with three hits on the day.
Hanna Cress in the circle finished with 6 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, and 6 K's.
Game Two: SMSU 8, USF 4
In a thrilling back-and-forth game after the Cougars fell behind 4-0, to only tie it up 4-4 in the 7
th, the Cougars fell to SMSU in Game 2 of the Kelly Laas Memorial Tournament by a score of 8-4.
SMSU struck early in the top of the 1
st inning by J. Noel with a single to right field, scoring Bailey Johnson. It was in the 5
th that SMSU tacked on another run when Jillian Noel reached by error scoring Abby Russell in the 5
th and followed up by a 2-RBI double by Russell, scoring Paige Shwaluk and Maddie Shwaluk in the top of the 6
th inning.
USF answered by getting on the board in the 6
th inning with a
Lexie Swift single on the right side, scoring
Rylie Jones. One inning later to start the 7
th,
Kylan Straight started the action with a single, followed by
Kylie Madrid reaching on an error, scoring
Megan Lawson.
Kait Van Der Zwaag came up to the plate, hitting a single into left field as she picked up the RBI with
Kylan Straight crossing home plate. To cap off the late inning rally,
Damaris Cuevas hit the fourth single of the inning, advancing Van Der Zwaag to second base and scoring
Kylie Madrid to send the game to extra innings with a score of 4-4.
The Mustangs came out swinging in the extra inning starting with a double to right center field, followed by a single to left and another to center field, putting four on the board in the top of the 8
th inning. SMSU held on in the bottom of the 8
th, ending the game with a final score of 8-4.
The Cougars ended the day with nine hits, led by
Kylan Straight and Kait Van Der Zwaag with two a piece. Van Der Zwaag swiped the first stolen base of the season for the Cougars and from the circle finished with a stat line of 7 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, and 2 BB's.
Up Next
USF is back in action for day two of the Kelly Laas Memorial Tournament at the Husky Dome on Saturday afternoon. Game 3 of the tournament, they will face off against Bemidji State at 1 p.m., followed by a 5 p.m. start time against tournament host, St. Cloud State.
