April 22, 2009
Game One Stats
Game Two Stats
The Peacock softball team took a pair of Northern Sun Conference games from the Huskies of St. Cloud State this afternoon. The wins, 2-1 (9) and 8-3, were big for Upper Iowa as they continue to push toward a berth in the NSIC Tournament; St. Cloud is one of the nine teams in contention for the eight spots available. With the two wins, UIU jumps to 21-17 overall and 12-8 in NSIC action, while SCSU drops to 20-32 overall and 7-13 in conference play.
In game one, the teams were locked in a pitcher's duel. Christy Loan was on the mound for the Peacocks and the junior from Oxford, Iowa was masterful. Loan threw all nine innings of game one as UIU had to win the game in extra innings. Loan only allowed four hits and one run in the game. The St. Cloud pitchers were also very good as they didn't allow the Peacocks to get onto the scoreboard until the seventh inning.
Upper Iowa trailed 1-0 with two out in the seventh inning and were down to their last at bat when an error allowed Trisha Hagensick to reach base. After a Danielle DeSerano single pushed the lead runner to second, Casey Coon stepped up and delivered the game-tying signal to score the unearned run.
In the ninth, Loan stepped to the plate and tallied only her second hit of the season in the form of a double down the left field line. After a sacrifice bunt, Loan took third base and scored on a bunt-single by DeSerano. Loan returned to the mound and worked out of a jam in the ninth to claim her tenth win of the season. DeSerano led the Peacocks at the plate in game one with three hits.
Upper Iowa made the most of the top of the sixth inning in the second game. Trailing 1-0 after five full innings, the Peacocks erupted for eight runs to take a commanding lead in support of Erica Maisto on the mound. Maisto picked up her second straight win as she threw a six-hit complete game victory. The freshman improved to 5-3 on the year after throwing seven innings and allowing three runs while striking out two Husky batters.
The eight-run sixth inning featured seven hits. The first big hit of the inning was an rbi-single by Maisto which tied the game at 1-1. Karrie Coon doubled to left center to drive in the go-ahead run. Upper Iowa worked hard on the basepaths and hustled their way to two more runs. Meredith Ang cleared the bases with a double to center field and then Kami Appelt plated Ang with a double of her own.
The home team did scratch out a run in the sixth and one more in the seventh, but they could not make up the big deficit. In the end, Upper Iowa won the second game by an 8-3 count.
The Peacocks will be on the road in the Northern Sun Conference this weekend. Upper Iowa will be at Minnesota State in Mankato, Minnesota this Saturday for a double header beginning at 1 p.m. Then UIU will move on to Marshall, Minnesota to compete against the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State on Sunday beginning at noon.
