MORRIS, Minn. – Kayla Senne tossed 10 scoreless innings on Friday, throwing a complete game shutout to lead Bethany Lutheran softball to a 4-0 win over UW-Superior in game one before throwing three innings against Northwestern as the Vikings walked off the Eagles 13-12 as the two teams finished their game from Tuesday night. With the wins, Bethany moves to 24-11 overall and 16-0 in the conference and have now won 18 straight games.
The Vikings now also sits 3 ½ games ahead of second place Superior in the UMAC standings and have clinched a spot in the UMAC Tournament.
Bethany Lutheran 4 – 0 UW-Superior
In the top of the first, the Vikings first two hitters recorded outs to bring Emily Doyle up. Doyle singled up the middle before Ana Christofferson walked to put two runners on base. Haley Stockman then crushed a ball into the wind to deep left field and over the outstretched arms of the left fielder to bring both runners across for an early 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless bottom half of the first from Senne, the bottom of the second got a little more difficult. The Yellowjackets doubled and singled to open the inning and put runners on the corner, before bunting and advancing just the runner from first to second. With two runners in scoring position and one out, Senne would walk a UWS batter before getting a strikeout and groundout to evade the threat.
The two pitchers then went toe to toe as neither allowed a hit in either the third or fourth inning, before the Vikings would break through in the fifth. Jade Krenik started the inning with a single before stealing second. Katelyn Halbach would then sacrifice bunt to advance Krenik before Kaija Mork would bring in the games third run and make the score 3-0.
Mork would push another run across with a double in the seventh inning but one run would have been enough in the game as Senne dominated, retiring the final 13 batters she faced for the shutout win.
Senne was stellar in the circle, allowing just two hits over seven innings of work while striking out six. Mork led the attack at the plate with two hits and two RBI, while Stockman posted the other two RBI in the contest.
Bethany 13 – 12 Northwestern (10 innings)
After Tuesday's game was suspended due to darkness, the Vikings and Eagles picked things up in the eighth on Friday night.
Senne took the duties on the mound and allowed a walk to leadoff the eighth inning, with the runner eventually stealing second and advancing to third over the course of two outs. She would have to stop there though, as Senne would get a pop out to end the inning. Bethany came to the plate in the bottom half though and went down quickly, going 1-2-3 to head to the ninth.
The Eagles would go 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth, before Haley Stockman knocked a one out single to give the Vikings their first runner in extra innings. Stockman then attempted to steal second base but was thrown out before the Yellowjackets got a strikeout to end the inning.
In the 10th, a runner was placed on second base for both teams to start the frame. A wild pitch to start the inning for Senne would allow the Yellowjackets to have the go-ahead run just 60 feet away with no outs. The sophomore in the circle dialed it in though, as she struck out consecutive batters before fielding a groundout and tossing it to first to send it to the bottom half.
In the bottom of the inning Cizek laid down a bunt to begin the inning and advance the runner, but the throw from the Eagles sailed wide of first base and allowed Aliya Kehler to trot home from second base for the walk-off win.
Stockman finished 4-for-4 in the contest, scoring two runs in the matchup. Doyle had two hits and four RBI, while Cizek finished with two hits and two runs scored.
Senne got the win in the game, pitching seven innings between the two days, allowing five earned runs and striking out eight.
