The Upper Iowa softball team's storybook season added two of its most exciting chapters yet when the Peacocks swept the conference-leading Wayne State Wildcats on a pair of walk-off hits on Thursday. Game one lasted 11 innings, the longest game of the year for UIU, before junior
Tara Walls hit a walk-off RBI single to score freshman
Sami Kay Shafranski and give the Peacocks a 1-0 victory. Upper Iowa picked up the win in game two in their last at-bat as well with junior
Katie Sammons hitting a single to center that brought home freshman
Jenny Budds in the bottom of the seventh for a 3-2 win.
The sweep propels Upper Iowa to 33-13 overall and 19-5 in the NSIC, while Wayne State fell to 25-22 and 19-7 in the Northern Sun. The Wildcats came into the day leading the NSIC at 19-5, while the Peacocks were in fourth. By the end of the games UIU had moved up to second, just one win behind Minnesota State, and WSC had fallen to fourth.
The Peacocks were outhit on the day 15-7, but UIU senior pitchers
Jacqueline Flood and
Brooke Redmond scattered those Wildcat hits to hold WSC to just two runs over 18 innings. Flood and Redmond each picked up their 16th wins of the season, breaking the record of 15 set by Redmond in 2014.
UIU will wrap up the regular season with two doubleheaders on the road this weekend, Apr. 23-24, at Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls. First pitch on Saturday in Marshall, Minn. will be at 1 p.m., while the games in Sioux Falls, S.D. on Sunday will start at noon.
Game 1: Upper Iowa 1, Wayne State 0 (11 innings)
In the longest game of the year for Upper Iowa, neither team had a runner reach third base until the top of the sixth. After a lead-off walk and a single, WSC used a sac bunt to move their runners to second and third with just one out. But Flood, who had allowed just four hits to that point, was up to the task by striking out the next hitter and induced a ground out to strand the runners at second and third.
Sophomore
Sammy Garrett picked up the Peacocks first hit of the game in the bottom of the eighth and with two outs, stole second, but was left in scoring position.
In the bottom of the ninth, Walls hit a two-out double to right center, but couldn't find her way home.
Both teams went down in order in the 10th and Flood sandwiched two strike outs around a single in the top of the 11th before getting a fly out to end the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Shafranski and Flood walked back-to-back with one out. It was the first time all game that the Peacocks had multiple base runners in a single inning. Senior
Erica Kirgan grounded out to second, but moved Shafranski to third and Flood to second. Walls came up next and singled down the left field line to bring Shafranski home for the 1-0 win.
Both pitchers threw incredible games as Flood and Cassy Miller threw complete games. Flood (16-7) scattered eight Wildcat hits over 11 innings, struck out nine and walked one. Miller allowed just the one run on three hits, struck out 15, but walked six.
Walls had two of the three Peacock hits, including the most important one that scored the game winning run.
Game 2: Upper Iowa 3, Wayne State 2
The Peacocks matched their game one run total in the first inning of game two as UIU scored to take a 1-0 lead. Kruel led off by reaching on an error, advanced to second on a ground out, then scored an unearned run on an RBI single by Flood.
Wayne State responded with a run on two hits in the top of the second to tie the game at 1-1. Redmond had to work out of a jam, but struck out a Wildcat hitter to strand runners on the corners.
WSC used the same blueprint to score another run in the top of the third. A lead-off single and sacrifice bunt put a runner in scoring position. A single up the middle brought the runner home to give Wayne State a 2-1 lead.
After quiet third and fourth innings for UIU, it was a couple Wildcat miscues that got the Peacocks going. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Sammons reached on a WSC error. The junior advanced to second on a wild pitch, then scored when Garrett reached on a throwing error to tie the game at 2-2.
It appeared that Wayne State was poised to take the lead back in the top of the sixth when the Wildcats had the bases load and just one out. But Redmond got WSC to ground out to third base twice and the Peacocks cut down the runners at home to hold the score at 2-2.
Again in the seventh the Wildcats had a runner in scoring position with a one-out double, but Redmond worked her magic and got out of the inning unscathed.
In the bottom half of the inning, senior
Tara Duran hit a one-out double for UIU and was replaced on the base paths by Budds. After a line out for the second out, Sammons came up and singled to center, scoring Budds to give the Peacocks a 3-2 win.
Redmond (16-4) threw a complete game and allowed just two runs on seven hits. The lefty struck out four and walked just one in the win.
Sammons was the lone Peacock with two hits in game two.
