Powered by four wins in a row, the Northern State softball team has advanced to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament.
The Wolves swept Bemidji State Saturday, April 26 and followed that up with a sweep of Minnesota-Crookston Sunday, April 28 to finish the regular season with a 25-23 record and an 11-17 mark in the NSIC. The 25 wins are the most since the 2018 season.
“I really liked the growth of the senior class this year from where they were as sophomores, and I know they wanted to make the NSIC tournament before they left,” said head coach Ashley Schilling. “We talked about leaving a legacy with that group, and the freshmen setting a precedent this year moving forward that this is now the standard. I’m just proud of how they answered that challenge toward the end of the season.”
The Wolves earned the 10th seed in the conference tournament and face seventh-seeded Minot State Wednesday, May 1. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Bowden Field in Sioux Falls.
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Northern was swept in two regular season meetings with the Beavers, 10-6 in the opener and 3-1 in Game 2.
“The nice part of the tournament is that it’s one game per day, so we have a game plan of throwing our best and have a game plan of going against (Minot’s) lineup and how we can approach them better,” Schilling said. “As far as our lineup, I felt in the two games we played, our hitters just didn’t have the clutch hits in the moments we needed. I think rolling into the tournament, we’re in a good spot mentally for it.”
The Wolves began last weekend with 23 runs in the two games at Bemidji State, taking Game 1 10-3 and Game 2 13-4.
Northern trailed the Beavers 3-1 after six innings in the opener, but its offense exploded for nine runs in the top of the seventh.
“It was kind of a slow start, as we’ve had and as we’ve talked about trying to avoid,” Schilling said. “Lexi (Chase) did a great job of keeping us in the game, and our bats ignited in that (seventh) inning. ”
Northern wasted little time getting its bats going in Game 2, putting up five runs in the top of the second. Kyla Knudtson had a two-run single.
Elly Smith added a solo home run in the top of the fifth. The Wolves put up another crooked number in the seventh inning, scoring five runs.
“We just had a lot of quality at bats,” Schilling said. “We knew (Minot pitcher Danica) Sarff was going to throw a lot of changeups, and we sat on those and swung at those when we had counts in our favor and put a lot of balls in play.”
Schilling’s squad capped off the weekend with another solid offensive showing at Crookston, Minn., taking the first game 7-1, then scoring the game-winning run late for a 4-3 win in the second game.
Ashley Fauske plated the winning run in Game 2 with a sixth-inning RBI double that scored Chase.
Fauske hit .667 with 10 hits and seven RBI over the weekend to earn NSIC player of the week honors.
“Ash had a great weekend,” Schilling said. “Lexi was on first, and we tried having Ash bunt her over. She fouled a pitch off and got to the point where she had two strikes and then she came up clutch, shooting one to the gap in right-center. Lexi is pretty fast, so she was able to score on the double. Just one of a handful of good at bat for (Fauske).”
Abby Rux earned the win in the circle, allowing three runs on six hits with six strikeouts.
Northern State baseball team splits with Wayne State
The Northern State baseball team dropped Game 1 Saturday, April 27 to Wayne State 14-1, then rallied for a 5-2 win in Game 2 in NSIC action in Nebraska.
Northern was scheduled to play a third game Sunday, April 28, but it was rained out. The Wolves are now 18-26 overall and 13-21 in the NSIC.
The Wolves allowed nine runs over the first three innings in the opener and were not able to produce much offensively off Wayne starter Jackson Shelburne, who went five innings, allowing no runs on two hits.
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Northern scored all five runs in Game 2 in the top of the fifth inning. Nick Freidges had a two-run double to make it 2-1 Wolves. Karson Hesser lined a bases-clearing double to deep right center that scored three runs for a 5-1 advantage.
Michael Chevalier has his strongest outing of the year, tossing eight innings, allowing two runs on two hits. He struck out six batters.
Northern will host a twin bill with the NSIC’s top team, Augustana, Wednesday, May 1. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Fossum Field.
Wolves rally for split against Minot State
Northern earned a split in a doubleheader with Minot State Wednesday, April 24 at Fossum Field.
The Wolves dropped Game 1 15-4, but stormed back for an 18-8 win in the nightcap.
After allowing 15 runs on 15 hits in the opener, Northern took a 3-1 lead in the second game with three runs in the bottom of the second on RBI singles by Nicholas Ochoa and Easton Rerick.
Minot answered, plating six runs in the fourth inning to take an 8-3 lead.
“Being down 8-3 and after dropping that first game, our guys could have cashed it in and just take the loss,” said Northern head coach Dean Berry. “We just didn’t give in, and, really, that’s how they’ve played all year. Our guys don’t stop playing no matter where the game is and today was a great example.”
Berry credited reliever Jack Miller for holding Minot scoreless in the three and two-thirds innings he pitched to close out the game.
“Jack coming in and tossing three scoreless innings was huge,” Berry said. “It allowed us to piece it together until the seventh.”
The Wolves erupted for 11 runs in the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by a Jack Weidner grand slam to left field.
“It’s just one of those things about baseball,” Berry said. “We were just trying to scratch a few runs across in the seventh and then, 11 runs later, we’ve got 18 on the board. It was just the guys’ approach. They just played the game until it was over. They never gave up.”