ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Winona State University softball team traveled down to Rosemont, Ill. to play four games against Grand Valley State, William Jewell, Purdue Northwest, and Lewis University and went 3-1 in the Lewis Dome Invitational.
WSU vs GVSU- 4-3:
The Warriors were the first to get on the board right away in the top of the first inning with Sam Keller getting the bats started with a single and scoring off an error made by the Lakers’ right field on a hit by Alyssa Woelfel. Winona State kept tallying up runs in the top of the third with Tiegan Mancuso starting the inning off with a walk and Keller hitting her in with a triple. Logan Anderson was then able to get Keller in to score off of a single to put WSU up 3-0. In the bottom of the third the Lakers were able to answer back with Grace Usher hitting a double. Jasmine Mauk had a sacrifice bunt to move Usher over and Faith Edward hit a single to score Usher to make the score 3-1. The Warriors went on to extend their lead in the fourth with a Braelee Jodarski home run to put the Warriors up 4-1. Grand Valley State tried to make a comeback in the bottom of the seventh with Morgan Spice starting the Lakers off with a walk and then scoring off of a double hit by Elizabeth Wesoloski. Mary Jane Goodman singled to hit in pinch runner, Carsyn Segorski, but were unable to get any other runs across, ending the game with a Warriors 4-3 victory.
Izzy Howe went 6.2 innings in the circle, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out three batters to earn the win. Jodarski went 1-2 with a home run and a RBI. Keller went 2-4 with a triple and one RBI. Anderson went 1-3 with one RBI and a walk to aid the Warriors at the plate.
WSU vs WJC- 10-1:
Both the Warriors and the Cardinals had a pitchers dual through two innings to keep the game deadlocked at 0-0. WSU was able to score first in the top of the third with Jaden Johnson hitting a double and advancing to third on an error made by the JWC left fielder and Mancuso hitting a single to score Johnson. The Cardinals answered back in the bottom of the third with Mikayla Chairez getting on with a single and then scoring off of a triple hit by Emma Jane Ogle to tie the game 1-1. WSU answered back in the top of the fifth with Keller hitting a home run. Winona State continued to plate runners with Anderson getting on with a single, Jodarski hitting a single, Kiley Slaats getting walked, and Indigo Fish getting walked to score Anderson. Jenna James then singles to score Jodarski and Slaats and Johnson hits a single to score Fish, putting the Warriors up 7-1. WSU goes on to get another run in the sixth with Jodarski hitting a double, Slaats getting hit by a pitch and Fish hitting a single, which scored Jodarski. The Warriors added two more runs in the seventh when Johnson reached on with an error by the Cardinals’ third baseman, Keller singled, Woelfel singled to score pinch runner, Bryn Elsenpeter, and Anderson grounding out to score Keller allowing WSU to win 10-1.
Jayda Berg went all seven innings in the circle allowing only one run off of one hit while striking out one batter to earn the win. Keller went 2-5 with a home run and a RBI. Johnson went 3-4 with a double and two RBIs. Jodarski and Slaats each collected a double. Fish and James each collected two RBIs. Anderson, Woelfel, and Mancuso each collected an RBI. to help in the Warriors victory.
WSU vs PNW- 12-3:
Winona State were able to get runners moving right away in the bottom of the first with Keller hitting a single, Anderson reaching on on a walk, and Jodarski hitting a sacrifice fly to score Keller. The Warriors continued to had runs to the board in the third with Woelfel hitting a triple, Anderson reaching on off a walk, and Jordarski hitting a double to score Woelfel. WSU kept the bats going with a single by Fish to score Anderson and Jordarski. To continue the inning, Nora Brandt was walked to shortly score along side Kailey Plank, pinch runner for Fish, off of a double hit by Johnson. Ashlee Chantos came up and hit a triple and was hit in off of a single by Mancuso. Keller then stepped up to bat and hit a triple to score Mancuso, to then score off of a single hit by Woelfel to put the Warriors up 9-0. In the top of the fourth, the Pride responded back Jadyn Ramer and Emma Fair hitting singles followed by Oliva Hernandez hitting a three run home run to cut the deficit to 9-3. To help secure the win, Brandt started the fourth inning off with a single followed by Elsenpeter hitting a double and Chantos driving in Elsenpeter and Dana Jones, who pitch ran for Brandt. The Pride were unable to plate any more runs in the fifth allowing the Warriors to win 12-3 in five innings.
Howe went all five innings in the circle allowing three runs off of three hits while striking out three batters to earn the win. Chantos went 3-3 with two doubles off of two hits collecting two RBIs. Mancuso and Keller went 2-3 with Mancuso hitting a double off of one hit collecting two RBIs and Keller hitting a triple off of one hit collecting a RBI. Jodarski, Fish and Johnson each collected two RBIs along side Woelfel, who collected one RBI in the Winona State win.
WSU vs Lewis- 0-6:
The Warriors battled all game against the Flyers but were unable to keep the bats hot. In the second inning, Fish was the first to get a hit with a double to right field. Lewis University was able to get runs across in the third with Delaney Garden hitting a single then stealing second followed Kristen Graham hitting a double to score Garden. Ariana Trausch then hit a double to score Graham to put the Flyers up 2-0. The Warriors tried to get the bats going with a single by Jodarski but were unable to do anything else. The Flyers kept their bats going with a single from Erica Hoffman, who then score off of a triple from Katie Jensen. Natalie Gomez then grounded to Elsenpeter to score Jensen to put Lewis University up 4-0. Winona State was unable to find the gaps to get runners on through the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth, Jensen doubled right away followed by a single by Isebella Poortenga to then have Garden reach on on a fielder’s choice. Graham then hit a single to left field to score Jensen and Poortenga to go up 6-0. Unfortunately, The Warriors were not able to gather a rally in the seventh and lost 6-0.
Berg went six innings in the circle allowing six runs off of 12 hits while striking out one batter in the Warriors loss. Fish and Jodarski went 1-3 at the plate with Fish hitting a double.
The Winona State University Warriors will be back in action down in Branson, Mo. Friday, February 28 through Sunday, March 2 where they will play in the Showtime Classic.
