Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Since Softball’s Head Coach Anna Van Wetzinga arrived on campus nearly three years ago, the Peacocks had not swept two weekend series in Northern Sun play. However, her players – especially three seniors that she recruited in her first year – changed that stat on Sunday afternoon. Playing in their final home games of the 2013 regular season, seniors Rachael Anello, Bailee Haberman and Hailley Haning propelled the Peacocks to a pair of wins on Saturday and then helped extend Upper Iowa’s win streak to five games with two wins over the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs inside the Eischeid Softball Complex.
 
In game one on Sunday, the Peacocks survived a three-run sixth inning from SMSU to earn a 4-3 victory. UIU outlasted another late run in game two and earned its second sweep in as many days with a 5-4 victory in the nightcap game. Against the Mustangs, the trio of seniors combined for six RBIs on seven hits and scored five total runs. The SMSU sweep at home gives the Peacocks a 23-13 overall record including a 10-6 mark in the NSIC.
 
“This weekend was a team effort,” Van Wetzinga said. “Offensively, that’s how we are. We don’t just have two or three kids who have unbelievable stats that pop out at you, but one-through-nine we have kids who contribute at different times of the game and that's huge.”
 
UIU will now look ahead to a big mid-week showdown with Augustana College on Wednesday, April 24 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
 
Game One Recap
 
It didn’t take long for the Peacocks to score a run in game one against the Mustangs. Rachael Anello led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and later scored thanks to an RBI-single from Jacqueline Flood.
 
UIU then added a run in the third inning as Bailee Haberman successfully planted a suicide-squeeze bunt down the third base line and beat out the throw at first base. Kayla Bergman scored on the play to give the Peacocks an early 2-0 lead.
 
“We’re like a family,” Haberman said. “Everyone stepped up today and showed how tight-knit of a team we really are. We would do anything for each other.”
 
Another senior ensured the Peacocks would stay out in front of the Mustangs as Haning connected on an RBI-single in the bottom of the fourth. Anello scored from third base on the play, but the inning was just beginning. After a single from Lauren Marlinghaus, Flood stepped back up to the plate and did not disappoint. The freshman hit a line-drive to SMSU’s shortstop and beat out the throw to first to earn another RBI-single as Haning crossed home plate. The run batted in was Flood’s 28th RBI of the 2013 season.
 
“Our bats have been hot lately, but today was more about our defensive presence,” said Anello, who's one of UIU's four team captains.
 
The offensive onslaught from UIU was paired with tremendous pitching and excellent defense. Brooke Redmond carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and never saw more than three batters in each of the first five innings.
 
“Brooke was sharp, again,” Van Wetzinga said. “She worked through some adversity – there was some shaky defense behind her at times, but she didn’t let that rattle her. She just threw pitch by pitch, which is what I wanted her to do.”
 
SMSU finally scratched the board in the sixth inning. A defensive error gave the Mustangs their first runner on the bags in the game. Then, Shelbie Stoll earned the first hit of the game for SMSU with a blooper to shallow right field. The Peacocks walked the next batter before another error in the infield cost the Peacocks a run. In the next at-bat, the Mustangs’ Jennifer Johnson singled to right field and brought home two more Mustangs to pull SMSU within one run, 4-3.
 
Redmond finally ended the inning with a groundout, which swept the momentum away from the visitors. The Mustangs were not be able to complete their comeback in the top of the seventh inning and the Peacocks took home the game one victory, 4-3.
 
“It was nice to start off strong,” said Redmond, who went all seven innings giving up only four hits and no earned runs. “I couldn’t have done it without my defense though, they played really well.”
 
Game Two Recap
 
Thanks to a little late momentum in game one, the Mustangs struck first blood in the nightcap game. After Katelyn Kalkman singled and stole a base in the top of the first inning, Jennifer Johnson brought her home with a two-run homer over the left centerfield wall.
 
Trailing 2-0, the Peacocks responded with their strongest offensive inning of the day. With the bases loaded, Bailee Haberman roped a double to left centerfield and brought home two runners. The Peacocks didn’t settle for a tie though as Tara Duran brought home two more runs thanks to a SMSU defensive error. Both Haberman and Lauren Marlinghaus crossed home plate after the Mustangs’ mistake.
 
“Coach Van has really taught me a lot,” Haberman admitted. “I am definitely much more intense and I play more aggressively than I used to.”
 
It wasn’t until the top of the third inning when the Mustangs struck again. This time, Morgan Peterson earned the RBI-single up the middle, but Peacock pitcher Jacqueline Flood and the UIU defense clamped down to end the inning and strand two Mustang runners on the bags.
 
UIU added to its 4-3 lead in the fourth inning thanks to a Whitney Williams triple and another RBI-single from Rachael Anello. Now with a two-run lead, the pressure was put on Flood and the defense to close out the game.
 
Flood went 6.1 innings giving up eight hits, but only two earned runs while striking out six Mustangs and walking only two. She got in trouble in the top of the seventh though and Van Wetzinga wanted a change calling for Redmond to appear in relief.

“Her pitches didn’t have the normal movement that we’re used to,” said Van Wetzinga of Flood's pitches. “Yet, she found a way to get through it and make her pitches work. She showed a lot of maturity out there today.”
 
Redmond did just enough to earn the save despite allowing an RBI-single to SMSU. With two outs and two runners on, the young left-hander got Kailey Hanson to strikeout looking to end the seventh inning and solidify the save – her second of the season.
 
“I felt comfortable coming in because I had thrown against them in the first game,” Redmond said. “I felt like I knew their hitters and I knew that we could pull out the win.”
 
The Peacock pitchers were incredible over the weekend, but the seniors were also a big reason why the Peacocks earned the game two 5-4 victory against the Mustangs and the entire weekend sweep.
 
“The wins just make today a little extra special,” Anello said. “We did a good job staying positive even when things went badly. It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to win.”
 
Anello finished the day with three hits, two runs scored and two runs batted in, while Haberman drove in three runs on three hits and scored a run in game two.
 
“It’s really exciting to get these wins on senior day and the four wins over the weekend,” Haning added. “These were really big games for us. If we want a shot at the tournament, we need to win all of the games that we can.”
 
Haning was equally impressive as her senior counterparts scoring two runs and adding an RBI-single in game one.
 
“It really worked out that we all came in as transfers,” she said about the trip of seniors. “We became really close and it’s going to be really sad to leave.”