MANKATO, Minn. – A Kayla Senne no-hitter in game one highlighted the Bethany Lutheran softball team's pair of wins over Minnesota-Morris on Tuesday. The Vikings, now 12-11 overall and 4-0 in the UMAC, won the first game 13-0 in five innings before taking an 8-4 victory in game two.
Bethany 13 – 0 Minnesota-Morris
The Vikings were the visitors in the contests and opened the scoring early as they put up two runs in the top of the first inning thanks to a pair of Cougar errors. Senne put the Cougars down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning to set the precedent for the rest of the game.
The Viking offense hit a standstill after the first until Haley Stockman blasted a solo home run to left to open the fourth inning. After another 1-2-3 inning in the fourth for Senne, the Bethany offense kicked it into full gear in the fifth. The Vikings rattled off seven hits in the inning and took advantage of four Minnesota-Morris errors to push across 10 runs and take a 13-0 lead. Senne would then put the Cougars down in order in the bottom half to secure the win.
In the five-inning no-hitter, Senne struck out five and allowed just two walks.
At the plate, Stockman and Ana Christofferson led the charge with two hits apiece, while eight different Vikings tallied base knocks in the contest.
Bethany 8 – 4 Minnesota-Morris
In the second game of the day, Bethany once again opened the scoring, this time in the second inning when the Vikings plated a run thanks to a Morris error. Anna Lee and Katelyn Halbach then went back-to-back with singles to score a run to put the Vikings up 3-0 after two innings. After Senne tossed another scoreless inning, Emily Doyle hit the first home run of her collegiate career to put Bethany up 4-0.
The Cougars finally got something going offensively in the third, plating two runs thanks to a pair of hits and a Bethany error to cut the deficit in half. After a scoreless fourth, Halbach would reach to start the fifth inning and be drove in by a double from Kaija Mork to put Bethany up three. After Mork would reach third thanks to a Morris error, Doyle would hit a sac fly to make the score 6-2. Morris would get one back in the bottom half after a Bethany error extended the inning as the Vikings led by three with two innings to play.
Both teams would play a scoreless sixth before Halbach led off with another single to start the seventh. Mork would once again double to drive in Halbach, before Doyle singled to score Mork and put Bethany up 8-3. Morris would add one more in the seventh but Senne would get a groundout to end the game.
Halbach went a perfect 4-for-4 in game two of the doubleheader, while Mork and Doyle eached added a pair of hits.
Senne once again went the distance, striking out 12 while allowing two earned runs in game two.
