Wayne State 8 University of Mary 2
Kaiti Williams doubled twice and Wayne State College scored seven runs in the first three innings as the Wildcats remained alive at the 2012 Northern Sun Conference Softball Tournament Thursday afternoon with an 8-2 win over the University of Mary in Rochester, Minnesota. The game had potential Central Region implications with WSC ranked 10th in the region entering the NSIC Tournament while Mary was seventh. The Wildcats are now 28-22 overall while Mary ends the season at 26-19.
WSC got off to a quick start, scoring two runs in the first inning without a hit as the ‘Cats used a Marauder error, two hit batters and a walk to score two runs. The ‘Cats put together three hits to score two more runs in the second to grab a 4-0 lead as Dani Sandel doubled and Jordan King singled with both players scoring on a Kaiti Williams double. After Mary scored one run in the bottom of the second to make the score 4-1, WSC put the game out of reach with three runs in the top of the third as King produced a two-run single while Sandel added a run-scoring single for the ‘Cats.
Mary scored in the fourth inning to make the score 7-2 with WSC adding an insurance run in the sixth as Williams doubled for the second time and scored on a Brittany Greenwood sacrifice fly to make the final score 8-2.
Wayne State had eight hits in the game to five for the Marauders. Williams finished 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles and two RBI’s for the Wildcats while Sandel was 2 for 4 with a double, RBI and three runs scored. King added two singles, going 2 for 3 with two RBI’s and two runs scored. Greenwood and Vicki Nielsen each added singles in the Wildcat win.
Sara Scheffert earned the pitching win for WSC, firing five solid innings to move her record to 13-9. She allowed two runs on five hits with one walk and one strikeout. Sophomore Jordan Harris worked the final two innings for the Wildcats retiring all six batters with two strikeouts.
Wayne State now faces either Concordia-St. Paul or Augustana in an elimination game on Friday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.