Photo and Article via Jamestown Athletics
JAMESTOWN, ND. (jimmiepride.com) – Kat Miska (JR/Pequot Lakes, Minn.) shutout No. 11 Morningside (Iowa) College on five hits in Saturday’s opener, giving University of Jamestown softball head coach Kevin Gall his 600th career victory as the Jimmies won 1-0.
The Mustangs came back with a 6-3 win in game two for a split of the GPAC doubleheader, the regular season finale for both teams.
Jamestown’s only run in game one came in the bottom of the third, as Morgan Geiszler (JR/Horace, N.D.) led off with a single. Jenna Remenar (FR/Vancouver, Wash.)’s sacrifice bunt moved Geiszler to second, and Kassi Ward (JR/Olympia, Wash.) followed with a single to right-center field.
Miska allowed a pair of hits to Ashton Whited and singles by Breanna Tjebben, Lexie Stolen, and Vanessa Bohuslavsky in recording her fifth shutout this season. She improved her record to 16-2 and lowered her earned run average to 0.95.
Geiszler and Ward both had two hits, accounting for all four Jimmie hits against Mustang pitcher Lisa Bolton (16-4).
Morningside took the lead in the second inning of game two on a groundout by Vanessa Bohuslavsky, then got run-scoring hits from Ellie Cropley and Morgan Nixon while adding runs on a fielder’s choice and Jimmie throwing error to make it 5-0 after the top of the fifth.
Brenna Tjebben doubled in the top of the seventh to score Cropley and push the lead to 6-0.
Jamestown finally got on the board with a two-out, three-run home run by Morgan Geiszler, her ninth of the season, making it 6-3. However, Morningside pitcher Katherine Wurtz was able to get the final out and secure the split.
Wurtz improved to 12-2 while pitching her third complete game of the season.
Katie Merchant (SO/South Haven, Minn.) (12-7) was the losing pitcher for Jamestown, lasting 4 1/3 innings while giving four earned runs on five hits. She walked one and struck out one. Lucy Sinkkonen (FR/Cloquet, Minn.) gave up one run on four hits over 2 1/3 innings, and Ann-Marie Crandlemire (SO/Sicamous, BC) retired the only batter she faced in the top of the seventh.
Geiszler was 2-for-4 while Jenna Remenar, Santina Zito (SO/Boise, Idaho), and Katie Reisdorfer (JR/Fresno, Calif.) also had hits.
The Jimmies, now 32-12 overall and 15-7 in the conference, have qualified for the GPAC postseason tournament, which begins on Wednesday. Final seedings will be determined on Sunday.