FREMONT, Neb. (JimmieAthletics.com) – The University of Jamestown softball team advanced to the championship game in the Midland Bracket of the GPAC Postseason tournament, defeating Northwestern (Iowa) 11-0 and Dordt (Iowa) 5-4 on Thursday.
The Jimmies will face the winner of Friday’s noon loser-out contest between Midland (Neb.) and Northwestern in the championship at 2:00 p.m. A UJ win in the 2 p.m. game would send them to the best-of-three GPAC Softball Tournament Championship Series on Saturday.
Jimmies 11, Red Raiders 0 (5 innings)
Mikayla Frost (JR/Melba, ID) and Allie McCain (SR/Duvall, WA) (SR/Duvall, WA) each had three hits to pace the Jimmies’ 14-hit attack in an 11-0 win over Northwestern (Iowa) in Friday’s opening game of the Midland Bracket in the GPAC Postseason Tournament.
Meghan Ramage (SR/Grand Forks, ND) and Sydney Prussia (SO/Detroit Lakes, MN) both finished with two hits for Jamestown, who put up six runs in the second inning for an early 7-0 lead.
McCain and Ramage finished with three RBI, while Prussia and Katie Reisdorfer (SO/Fresno, CA) drove in two each.
Prussia drove in Jamestown’s first run with a single to center, scoring Frost, who led off with a walk and moved to second on a single by McCain.
Three Northwestern errors coupled with four Jimmie hits led to a six-run second inning. Reisdorfer’s two-out double scored Morgan Geiszler (SO/Horace, ND) and Prussia to make it 7-0.
Frost and McCain hit back-to-back doubles in the third for UJ’s eighth run, then Ramage brought home two more with a double of her own to make it 10-0. Prussia followed with a single to center scoring Ramage for an 11-0 advantage.
Katie Merchant (FR/South Haven, Minn.) (13-8) recorded her third shutout of the season. In five innings, Merchant gave up five hits, struck out two, and did not issue a walk.
Jimmies 5, Defenders 4
Allie McCain‘s two-out single in the bottom of the sixth scored Mariah Wick (SO/Jamestown, N.D.) with the eventual game-winning run as Jamestown held off a Dordt rally in a 5-4 win Friday afternoon.
With one out in the sixth, Mariah Martinez (FR/Visalia, Calif.) reached on an error by the Dordt shortstop and advanced to second. Wick walked and moved up a base after Martinez was forced out at third base. McCain followed with a single to center allowing Wick to cross the plate and give UJ a four-run lead.
Back-to-back singles by Dordt opened the seventh inning, and with one out, another single loaded the bases. A two-run Jimmie error cut the lead to 5-3, then a two-out single brought in the third run of the frame and made it a one-run game. UJ reliever Samm Hamilton(JR/Boise, Idaho) got a ground ball to second base for the final out to preserve the win and her first career save.
Jamestown opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth with four runs, all of which came with two out. Sydney Prussia and Katie Reisdorfer alternated base hits between the two outs, then Miriah Yoder (SR/Devils Lake, ND) connected for a three-run home run to make it 3-0. Martinez, Wick, and Mikayla Frost hit consecutive singles with the latter’s driving in Martinez with the fourth run of the inning.
Dordt broke the shutout with a leadoff triple followed by a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth.
Wick and Mikayla Frost had two hits each to lead the Jimmies. Katie Merchant (14-8) won her second game of the day, pitching 6 1/3 innings while allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits. She struck out two and did not walk a batter for the second straight game.