The Peacocks wrapped up their record-setting regular season with a split at the University of Sioux Falls on Sunday.
With the 4-0 shutout victory in game one, Upper Iowa secured a top-three finish in the Northern Sun, the best since the Peacocks joined the conference. UIU dropped game two 6-1, but finished the regular-season with a school record 35 wins and 21 conference victories. USF moved to 33-18 overall and 17-11 in the NSIC after the split.
Junior
Tara Walls and freshman
Sami Kay Shafranski had five hits each on the day to lead UIU at the plate and senior
Jacqueline Flood earned her 17th win of the season in the circle with her eighth complete game shutout of the year.
The Peacocks have secured a spot in the Northern Sun Conference Tournament but will have to wait for the seeding to see who they will play as the bracket will be released Monday, Apr. 25, following a doubleheader between St. Cloud State and Minot State that had to be postponed until Monday. The Peacocks are tied for second in the standings with Minnesota Duluth and will receive either the No. 2 or 3 seed. The tournament will be played in Sioux Falls, S.D., at Sherman Park fields A and B. It is a double-elimination tournament, which will consist of the top ten teams in the final NSIC standings and will begin on Thursday, April 28 and run through Saturday, April 30.
The NSIC Softball Tournament Champion will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament, played May 6-8 followed by the NCAA Super Region played May 13-14 on a campus to be determined. The NCAA Championships are set for May 18-21 at Regency Athletic Complex in Denver, Colorado in conjunction with NCAA Spring Championship Festival. The NCAA DII Softball Selection Show is set to air via webcast on NCAA.com on Monday, May 2 at 9 a.m.
Game 1: Upper Iowa 4, Sioux Falls 0
The Peacocks got on the board first with some help from the Cougars. In the top of the second, Upper Iowa had back-to-back singles from Walls and senior
Tara Duran. A couple batters and outs later, sophomore
Sammy Garrett reached on an error that allowed Duran to score to gave UIU a 1-0 lead.
Over the next four and a half innings, neither team had a runner reach third base as the score remained 1-0.
In the UIU half of the seventh, the Peacocks added three insurance runs. Junior
Katie Sammons led off with her team-leading ninth home run of the year to give Upper Iowa a 2-0 lead. After a walk and a Cougar error to put Peacocks on second and third, senior
Erica Kirgan hit a two-out double to right center that plated freshmen
Julia Buffington and Shafranski that put the Peacocks up 4-0.
Flood (17-8) scattered five hits over her complete-game shutout victory and retired 10 of the final 11 Cougars she saw. Flood struck out seven and didn't surrender a walk while matching her fellow senior
Brooke Redmond for the most wins by a pitcher in a single-season with 17.
Game 2: Sioux Falls 6, Upper Iowa 1
The Cougars jumped out to an early 2-0 lead to start game two. In the bottom of the first, USF had runners at second and third come around to score on a single to right and an error as Sioux Falls took a 2-0 lead.
UIU cut the deficit in half in the top of the third. Sammons, Garrett and Shafranski loaded the bases on three singles and Flood hit a one-out sac fly to plate Garrett and make it 2-1.
Sioux Falls broke the game open in the third with three runs on three hits, then added another run in the fourth to make it 6-1.
The Peacocks tried to rally in the fourth with two singles to start the inning, but couldn't move the runners any further. In the sixth, UIU had a one-out single followed by a double, but stranded the runners at second and third. Finally in the top of the seventh, Upper Iowa had three hits, all singles, but an untimely double play and strike out ended the Peacock threat and the game.
Redmond (17-5) took the loss for UIU as she allowed six runs, four earned, on eight hits. The lefty struck out seven and walked one.
