West St. Paul, Minn. – The Northern State University softball team opened the 2015 season with a spilt against Minnesota Duluth from the West St. Paul Dome. The Wolves dropped game one 0-5 and came back to secure the 5-0 victory in game two.
Kalie Maiden and
Rachel Albright led the Northern offense with one hit a piece in game one. The Wolves suffered ten strikeouts in the loss to the Bulldog's Hartmann.
Kami Smesmo took the loss in game one, throwing six innings and recording five strikeouts. Smesmo is now one strikeout away from tying the school record for career strikeouts set by Hall of Famer Tanya (Frerichs) Sheldon with 354 from 1992-1995.
The Wolves secured the victory in game two, tallying two runs in the third and three runs in the fifth. After 2.5 scoreless innings of play,
Ashley Clapp led off the third with a walk.
Kelsey Gale then stepped to the plate to blast a homerun to dead center and put the Wolves on top 2-0.
Northern scored again in the fifth, led off by
Kalie Maiden with a walk.
Rachel Albright sacrificed Maiden to second and the Wolves were in scoring position. After a
Macey Engel walk,
Eryn Yancy doubled to left scoring both Maiden and Engel. Yancy went on to score in the inning off a
Courtney Moore single to left.
Missy Elkins notched her first win of the season, throwing a complete seven innings for the Wolves. Elkins held the Bulldogs to three hits and no earned runs, while striking out three.
Kalie Maiden was the final NSU starter to record a hit in the win, while adding her first stolen base of the season.
NSU will be back in action next weekend at the Missouri Southern Tournament. The Wolves will face off against Northeastern State, Lindenwood, Truman State, Fort Hays State, and Missouri Southern, February 17
th – March 1
st.
