Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box
ABERDEEN, S.D. – As a freshman in 2009, Northern State University first baseman Brittany Huback led the Wolves in batting average, hits, RBIs and slugging percentage. In 2010, however, Huback has struggled to maintain the same consistency at the plate for the Wolves.
Struggled, that is, until Saturday when Huback left no doubt on her walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning that gave the Wolves their first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win of the season with a 7-6 victory over Upper Iowa University in Game 2 of the day's doubleheader. UIU claimed a 4-3 win in the opener, holding off an NSU rally in the bottom of the seventh in that game to preserve the win.
The win breaks an 8-game losing skid for the Wolves, now 5-15 overall and 1-3 in conference play. The Peacocks moved to 6-4 on the season and 1-1 in league action. UIU will close out its opening weekend of conference action tomorrow with a pair of games against the University of Mary.
Tied 1-1 through the first six innings of Game 1, the Peacocks took advantage of two NSU errors in the top of the seventh inning to score three unearned runs to go up 4-3. The Wolves got two of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh inning after loading the bases with one out, but couldn't push the tying run across, ending the game with runners on second and third.
Sophomore Kelli Bornander was tagged with the loss despite giving up just one earned run in the complete game performance. Bornander allowed seven hits and four walks while striking out four and stranding eight runners on base.
The Peacocks exploded for four runs in the first inning off freshman starter Casey Mason to open up Game 2. UIU third baseman Katie Flood accounted for three of those runs with her first home run of the season, a 3-run shot to left center.
NSU responded with three runs of their own in the second inning, manufacturing them using two hits, three walks and a sacrifice fly off the bat of senior catcher Tara Bruns.
Sophomore Ashley Gabler then put the Wolves back on top in the bottom of the fifth inning with a 2-run homer – her first of the season – that splashed down in the holding pond past the right field fence. The blast scored Huback, who had drawn a one-out walk, to give the Wolves a 5-4 lead.
NSU added an insurance run in the sixth inning when Kelsey Robling scored on a Whitney Luhring single. That run proved invaluable in the top of the seventh inning, as the Peacocks tied things up with two runs in their half of the inning.
That set the stage for Huback's heroics in the bottom of the inning. The sophomore took a 1-1 offering from UIU's Christy Loan – the Peacocks' Game 1 starter who returned to the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning – and laced it down the left field line for the win.
Bornander, who came on in relief in the top of the seventh, got the benefit of the win for the Wolves, improving to 4-9 on the season. Loan, who has been the pitcher of record for all 10 of the Peacocks' games, absorbed the loss after giving up the winning run.
The Wolves are back in action on Wednesday as they take on Minnesota Duluth in another NSIC doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. at Moccasin Creek Complex.
