MANKATO, Minn.—The Bethany Lutheran softball team (14-9 overall, 4-0 UMAC) swept Minnesota Morris (5-12, 2-2) Monday night, as they won 11-3 (six innings) and 8-2, respectively. The doubleheader marked the first true home games played outdoors this season for the Vikings.
After a rocky first frame in which freshman Kayla Senne (Northwood, Iowa) allowed three runs on three walks and two hits, she settled in to deliver five consecutive scoreless innings to finish the opener. Senne recorded seven strikeouts, and did not walk any UMM batters after the first inning. She picked up the win to improve to 10-6 on the year, becoming just the eighth pitcher in program history to reach the double-digit victory mark in a single season.
The BLC bats were hot out of the gates in game one, as they pushed five runs across the board in the home half of the first, and produced 15 total hits in the contest. Bethany's second-through-fifth spots in the lineup —consisting of senior Zoe Kinakin (Victoria, British Columbia), freshman Kaija Mork (Sioux Fall, S.D.), senior Eden Ambrose (Hugo, Minn.) and sophomore Ana Christofferson (Mankato, Minn.)— went a combined 9-14, scoring six runs and driving in three.
In the sixth inning, freshman Olivia Fritz (Le Sueur, Minn.) pinch hit and delivered an RBI single to the outfield, which induced the eight-run rule and ended the game.
In addition to multi-hit efforts from Kinakin, Mork, Ambrose and Christofferson, junior Liz Milam (Le Seuer, Minn.) went 2-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.
The hot start offensively did not carry over into game two, as Bethany went hitless through three innings and the game remained scoreless through three-and-a-half frames.
Kinakin got the lineup going with a leadoff triple to deep center field in the fourth inning. Mork drove Kinakin in on a sac fly, her first of two in consecutive innings.
The Vikings took advantage of an error midway through the bottom of the sixth to score four runs with two outs, courtesy of a double from Kinakin and a single from Mork which plated two runs apiece.
Senior Alyssa Kosta (Redding, Calif.) pitched a complete-game victory to bring her season record to 4-2. Kosta's final line saw her scatter six hits and a walk as she allowed just one earned run.
Kinakin led the Vikings at the plate, going 3-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. She had six hits total in the double header.
Mork went 1-2 and produced four RBIs in game two.
Bethany travels to Wisconsin-Superior for a double header Saturday, with the first game slated to begin at 1 p.m.
