ST. BONIFACIOUS, Minn. - Meyer tossed seven shutout innings and struck out 14 batters on Friday afternoon as the Bethany Lutheran softball team defeated Crown 9-0. With the win the Vikings move to 17-10 overall and 7-0 in the UMAC while the Polars fall to 11-16 overall and 4-6 in conference play. 

Hear from the Vikings
Here's what head coach Angela Dabu had to say about the game.

Dabu: "Great energy from the team all day! We had good discipline at the plate today and Meyer threw well and our defense had her back."

Inside the Box Score

The Vikings got a pair of baserunners in the top of the first thanks to two walks, but the Polars were able to work out of the jam to keep them off the board. Crown then opened the bottom half of the inning with a base hit, but two strikeouts from Meyer and a groundout kept the game scoreless.

After both teams posted a scoreless second, the Bethany offense gave Meyer some run support in the third. Emily Doyle walked, and a single from Meyer put two on. Aliya Edbom-Kehler drove in the first run of the game with a single before a Polar throwing error that rolled all the way to the outfield fence brought in both Meyer and Edbom-Kehler to make it 3-0.

Crown would get their biggest threat of the game in the fourth, as three straight singles would load the bases with no one out. Meyer would get the next three batters swinging though as the Vikings held onto the 3-0 lead headed to the fifth. 

Quick 1-2-3 innings from both teams in the fifth and sixth kept the game unchanged until the seventh, when the Vikings broke things open.

Bryn Weidner, Doyle, and Edbom-Kehler all reached base with one out in the inning. Carly Nelson followed with a single, and an error in left field allowed all three runs to score, pushing the lead to 6-0. A few batters later, Addie Ahern singled to left to plate two more, and then came around to score on the third Crown error of the inning to make it 9-0. Meyer then worked around a single in the bottom half and picked up three more strikeouts to seal the win.

Doyle led Bethany at the plate with a pair of hits to go along with two walks in the contest while seven other Vikings added one hit. 

To add on to her dominant performance with 14 strikeouts, Meyer allowed just five hits in the contest and no free passes. 

The two teams will matchup once again tomorrow when they begin a doubleheader at 1 p.m.