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University of Wisconsin-Superior Athletics

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Wisconsin-Superior
Yellowjackets
Britnee Blake
Tina Prior

Softball

Yellowjackets sweep first day in Florida

Britnee Blake batted .500 as the Yellowjackets won twice on Friday in Florida.
Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

The trip between Superior and Fort Myers, Fla. is a long one, made even longer when you are forced to make the trek by bus. That was the case for the Yellowjacket softball team, who departed the snow and lingering winter for the sunny confines of Florida. And that long trip was made a little more palatable by the way the team performed on the field the first day, taking both games by identical 4-2 scores.

Yellowjackets 4, Stevens Institute of Technology 2

In Friday's first game the Yellowjackets did all of their scoring in one inning, pushing across four runs in the fourth to earn their fifth win of the season.

After managing just one hit through the first three innings the Yellowjackets broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning. Britnee Blake (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) led off with a single and moved all the way to third when Kristen Haider (Dassel, Minn./Dassel-Cokato) reached on an error. Elle Niemela (Cokato, Minn./Dassel-Cokato) followed with another single, scoring both runners to put the first runs of the game on the board.

Haley McNeil (Hill City, Minn./Hill City) singled and stole second to put two runners in scoring position. Niemela scored to make it a 3-0 game on a groundout. Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) followed with a single and then stole second to again put two runners in scoring position. McNeil was thrown out at home on a Katie Wilke (Baraboo, Wis./Baraboo) ground out. Then with runners on the corners Wilke and Linzmeier executed a perfect double-steal, scoring Linzmeier and eventually putting Wilke on third to push the lead to 4-0.

In the bottom of the fifth the Yellowjackets again put two runners on, but were unable to add to their lead.

Then in the top of the sixth Stevens Institute cut the lead in the half. After a single and a pair of Yellowjacket errors, Jessica Rees singled, scoring both runners to make it a 4-2 game. The Yellowjacket defense ended the threat in the next at bat, inducing a fielder's choice to end the inning.

Nicolle Gross (Coleraine, Minn./Greenway) closed out the game, pitching a perfect seventh inning, retiring Stevens Institute with three fly balls. Gross scattered just five hits over seven innings. She walked one and struck out two. Just one of the two runs she allowed was earned.

The Yellowjackets got seven singles from seven different players in the game.

Yellowjackets 4, Franklin and Marshall 2

The second game of the day was much like the first in that the bats were once again quiet. And like the first game the Yellowjackets did all of their scoring in one inning, just this time they waited a little bit longer to do the damage.

A pitcher's duel unfolded early, with Kaitlin Zampino of Franklin and Marshall and Sarah Hendrickson (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld) baffled opposing hitters. The Diplomats broke through first in the top of the second. Zampino helped herself, leading off with a double and coming around to score on a Megan Ryan base hit to take a 1-0 lead.

Zampino and Hendrickson matched each other, scoreless inning for scoreless inning in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

Then in the top of the sixth the Diplomats scored again to take a 2-0 lead. Three of the first four hitters in the inning singled to produce the run, before the Yellowjacket defense closed the door.

In the bottom of the inning Blake hit a one-out single and Haider followed with a walk. Two hitters later McNeil slapped a two-out single to cut the deficit to 2-1. Sasha Fjeran (Two Harbors, Minn./Two Harbors) then doubled, plating Haider with the tying run and moving McNeil to third. McNeil scored when Linzmeier reached on an error and the Yellowjackets had their first lead of the game. Wilke closed out the scoring, bringing home Fjeran on a base hit to give the Yellowjackets a 4-2 edge heading to the seventh.

Head Coach Roger Plachta made the pitching change in the top of the inning, bringing on Gross to close things out. And like she did in the opener, she set the opposition down in order to preserve the second win of the day for the Yellowjackets.

Hendrickson earned the victory, improving to 2-2 on the year, allowing two earned runs on six hits. She walked one and struck out five. Gross picked up her first save of the season.

McNeil, Fjeran, and Blake paced the Yellowjackets offensively with two hits apiece. For the game the Yellowjackets outhit Franklin and Marshally 7-6.

The Yellowjackets (6-4) will take on College of Wooster out of Wooster, Ohio and Alfred State University out of Alfred, N.Y. on Saturday.
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