MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran softball team Saturday dropped their first contest of the day to UW-Superior 5-4 before keeping their season alive and advancing to the UMAC Championship by defeating Northwestern 12-2 in five innings. With the results the Vikings move to 29-13 on the year and will take on the Yellowjackets in the conference title game tomorrow.
UW-Superior 5 – 4 Bethany
The Vikings would get things going quickly in the bottom of the first inning of this one as Sydney Jacobs would walk and steal second before a Katelyn Halbach bunt single would put runners on the corners. Emily Doyle would then get an RBI groundout before Haley Stockman doubled to make things 2-0.
Kayla Senne would keep the Yellowjacket hitters at bay through the first few innings with Bethany adding another run in the bottom of the third as Jacobs would come in to score on a Doyle sac fly to make it 3-0.
Kaija Mork would rip a ground rule double over the left field fence to open the fourth inning before coming around to score on a UWS error to give Bethany the 4-0 lead.
The Yellowjackets would then finally get to Senne in the fifth, as they would use four hits to plate four runs including a two-out single that brought in two to even the game at four apiece.
Following a scoreless bottom of the fifth, the Yellowjackets would get a single to open the top of the sixth inning. They would then sacrifice bunt with the Vikings recording the out at first, but in trying to throw behind the runner at second the ball would roll all the way to the fence and the run would score to give them a 5-4 advantage.
The Vikings would get two hits to put a runner into scoring position in the bottom of the sixth but a groundout would end the threat and leave them down to their final three outs.
In the bottom of the seventh inning Jacobs would single with one out before a flyout left the Vikings down to their final out. Doyle would pull a hard hit groundball into the hole at short, but the Yellowjackets would be able to make the play to secure the 5-4 win.
Emily Meyer came on in relief and took the loss, allowing no earned runs in two innings of work.
Jacobs led Bethany with three hits while Mork and Ana Christofferson each added two.
Bethany 12 – 2 Northwestern (5 innings)
Meyer would get the start on the mound in game two and the Eagles would score the first two runs of the game off her in the second inning thanks to a two-run home run but that would be all she would allow in this one.
In the bottom of the second the Bethany offense would explode and it would begin with a Haley Stockman solo home run to open the inning.
Following the homer, the Vikings would add eight more runs on nine hits to put their stamp on the contest. Meyer would help her own cause in the inning with a 2-RBI single, while Doyle, Mork, Stockman, and Christofferson each also added RBI hits in the inning.
After a 1-2-3 inning from Meyer in the third, Bethany would add another in the bottom half as Halbach would single and steal before coming around to score on a Mork base hit.
Meyer would then strike out the side in the fourth inning before Bethany would give her two more insurance runs in the bottom half with RBI at-bats from Jacobs and Halbach to go up 12-2.
The top of the fifth would be much of the same for the Eagle offense, as Meyer put them down 1-2-3 to end the game and give Bethany the win.
Meyer retired the last 11 batters she faced in this one, allowing just three hits in the contest and striking out five.
Six different Vikings posted two hits in this one with Mork, Stockman and Meyer each recording two hits and two RBI.
Bethany will now be back in action at noon tomorrow when they take on UW-Superior, where they will have to defeat the Yellowjackets twice to claim the UMAC title.
