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Softball Team Earns First Victory of Season

 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Bethany Softball team arrived in Florida ready to compete in the Gene Cusic Classic. On Sunday, the Vikings played a pair of games against different opponents. Game one featured the Vikings taking on Drew University. In game two, Bethany played Marian University.
 

• The Vikings scored five runs in two innings to earn their first victory of the season, defeating Drew University 5-3 to open up play down south.

• In the second game of the day, it was Marian University coming out on top, defeating Bethany 18-4.

 
Bethany Lutheran 5, Drew University 3
Sophomore Anna Pipenhagen (Elk River, Minn.) was the star on the mound for the Vikings in the morning contest against Drew. The right-hander struck out 16 batters in seven innings of work to earn her first victory of the young season.  Her 16 strikeout performance ranks second in Bethany record books for most strikeouts in a single game.
 
Bethany saw most of their offensive productivity come from the middle of the batting order as Rachel Kurtenbach (Cottenwood, Minn.), Amber Schulz (Amboy, Minn.), and Dani Emkes (Montevideo, Minn.) combined for seven of the Vikings 11 hits.
 
Kurtenbach led the Vikings by going 3-3 with three RBI's and one run scored. Schulz hit her first collegiate home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Vikings a 4-1 lead. The sophomore finished the contest with two hits, two runs, and one RBI. Emkes also had two hits and two runs scored in the victory over Drew University. Magen Meyer (Spring Valley, Minn.) also recorded two hits as the right fielder in the Vikings lineup.
 
Marian University 18, Bethany Lutheran 4
The Bethany Softball team started the game off by scoring four runs in the top of the first inning. Pipenhagen lined a double to the outfield gap scoring Katy Snyder (Mankato, Minn.) to put the Vikings on the scoreboard first.
 
Marian scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning followed by nine runs in the third to secure the victory over the Vikings.
 
Snyder and Pipenhagen along with Kurtenbach, Emkes, and Angela Timm (Wood Lake, Minn.) reach recorded one hit in the efforts against Marian on Sunday morning.
 
The Vikings (1-3) will continue play on Monday, March 7^th against Wisconsin Lutheran and Geneva. The first game is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Fans can stay up-to-date with all the action from the Gene Cusic Classic by visiting www.blcvikings.com and following @BLCvikings on Twitter.