Game One Box ||
Game Two Box
With unpredictable April weather playing havoc on their schedule, the Upper Iowa softball team opened their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference weekend schedule a day late Sunday afternoon when they visited Mankato, Minn. to take on the #6-ranked Mavericks of Minnesota State. The highly ranked Mavericks defeated the Peacocks 9-4 in game one before getting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning in game two to complete the sweep, 2-1.
Minnesota State hung four runs on the board in the first inning of game one, and after UIU cut into the Maverick lead in the top of the second, the home squad plated five more runs in the bottom of the second to take a commanding 9-1 lead early in the matchup.
UIU's Erin Van Praag scored a run in the fifth on a throwing error by the Maverick first baseman before driving in the second of Upper Iowa's two runs in the top of the seventh as Minnesota State won the first game, 9-4.
The Peacocks were outhit 9-4 in the opener while starting pitcher Sarah Dec lasted only one and two-thirds of an inning. Dec gave up seven of MSU's nine hits, but only five of the nine runs were earned.
Game two turned out to be a defensive struggle as the teams combined for just three hits in the first three innings of action. In the top of the fourth, UIU plated a run and took their first lead of the afternoon when shortstop Erin Bennek blasted a solo home run to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
MSU registered the next hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth and tied the game in the bottom half of the seventh inning to send the contest into extra innings where the Mavericks earned the walk-off homerun with the second batter of the eighth inning to take the game and complete the sweep of Upper Iowa, 2-1.
Brooklyn Koranda tossed a seven hitter in 7.1 innings of work. The right-hander struck out two Mavericks while walking just one.
Upper Iowa closes out their extended weekend tomorrow afternoon when they visit Marshall, Minn. to battle the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State. The first pitch of the two-game set is slated for 1 p.m.
