Warriors earn win over Golden Eagles
By Aaron Schneider
ABERDEEN, S.D. – After starting the day with two losses, the Waldorf College softball team bounced back to earn its first win of the season over the University of Minnesota-Crookston while closing out the Aberdeen Dome Tournament on Sunday.
Dakota Wesleyan University (2-8) dealt the Warriors (1-5) an 11-3 loss in the opener. Waldorf fell 3-1 to the University of Jamestown (6-2) in a close battle. The Warriors concluded the weekend in winning fashion, picking up a 3-2 victory over NCAA Division II’s Minnesota-Crookston (0-4).
Waldorf sophomore Hattie Hupke batted 3-for-3 in the opener and senior Jessica Abrahamson finished the game 2-for-3.
Dakota Wesleyan’s Sierra Haage hit 3-for-4 and tallied three RBIs behind a home run and double. Megan Bovee bashed a solo homer and finished the game 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Claudia Nixon went 3-for-4 for the Tigers while Katelyne Dougherty and Elise Sutherland drove in two runs apiece.
Haage (1-1) earned the win as she struck out five batters and allowed three runs on nine hits in six innings.
Senior Maggie Hawley (0-2) was handed the loss. She finished with two strikeouts, issued two walks and surrendered seven runs on nine hits in three innings. Junior Ashton May issued one walk and relinquished one run on two hits while facing three batters in the sixth inning.
Haage knocked out a solo shot in the bottom of the first inning to give Dakota Wesleyan a 1-0 lead.
The Warriors went ahead 2-1 in the third after senior Andrea Hartmann contributed an RBI single and senior Kaitlin Murphy brought home Hupke on a sacrifice fly.
Seven hits led to six runs for the Tigers, who built a 7-2 advantage in their half of the third. Haage started with a two-run double. Bovee added a run-scoring single, Sutherland singled in two more runs and Dakota Wesleyan received an RBI single from Kylah Spangler.
Haage hit a leadoff double in the fourth and scored following a sac fly from MacKayla Nohr to give the Tigers an 8-2 lead.
Junior Trista Bures provided an RBI double in the fifth, pulling the Warriors to within three runs.
Bovee smacked a solo homer to lead off the sixth. Dougherty brought the game to an end with a two-run double.
Hartmann hit a solo homer and Hupke singled as Waldorf was limited to two hits in the loss to Jamestown.
Linda Ontiveros led the Jimmies, batting 2-for-3 with an RBI single.
Jamestown’s Brittany Rheault (3-0) tossed a two-hit gem and punched out seven batters. She went the distance, allowing just the one run in seven innings.
Hartmann (0-2) took the loss. She struck out five batters and walked one while yielding three runs on nine hits in six innings.
The Jimmies took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second following an RBI single from Hanna Dunnigan.
The Warriors knotted the score at 1-all in the sixth when Hartmann blasted a solo shot. Ontiveros provided an RBI single and Dani Norsby knocked in a run on a groundout to help Jamestown pull ahead in the bottom half of the inning.
Rheault struck out two of the three batters she faced in the seventh to seal the game for the Jimmies.
Senior Maggie Eden went deep with a three-run shot to lift Waldorf past Minnesota-Crookston in the final game of the weekend road trip. Hartmann turned in a 2-for-3 performance at the plate while Bures contributed a single.
Allison Foley and Alexis Khoshaba connected on solo homers for the Golden Eagles.
Sophomore Kaylie Brindley (1-1) locked up the win for the Warriors. She gave up two runs while scattering nine hits in seven innings.
Minnesota-Crookston’s Bailey Braatz (0-2) took the loss in a six-inning outing. She finished with one strikeout and walked one batter while surrendering three runs (two earned) on four hits.
Khoshaba put the Golden Eagles on the board, delivering her solo shot in the top of the first. Foley’s homer came in the sixth.
Waldorf swiped the lead in its half of the sixth when Eden went yard with a two-out, three-run blast.
The Warriors return to action March 6-10 when they play eight games in the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic at North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Waldorf opens the spring break trip against Ohio Valley University (0-0) on March 6 at 9:30 a.m. (EST).