Index of Sports Press Releases

April 19, 2008

Wesleyan Wins Second Game in Seventh
By MATT HIGGINS • The Daily Republic

The Dakota Wesleyan University softball team was one out from being swept by Nebraska Wesleyan University Friday at Cadwell Park.

However, the Tigers (10-15, 5-9 GPAC) trailed by just one, 3-2, with the tying run on base and Annie Martinez and Sarah Wells due to hit.

“We were still positive because we had Annie and Sarah up to bat, and they’re both good hitters,” said DWU head coach Marie McCarthy. “They started to hit the ball more solid in that second game. We weren’t giving up yet.”

Martinez kept hope alive with a single to center, moving Ekekela Watson to second. Wells followed with a deep fly ball to left field. The Prairie Wolves’ (19-11, 9-7 GPAC) outfielder closed in on the ball, but it glanced off her glove. Watson and Martinez both scored, and the Tigers’ celebrated their most thrilling victory of the spring.

“It was great,” McCarthy said. “They were just very excited and I think it boosted some confidence. They should be proud of that win because we really worked for it at the end.

“You could see it in (Martinez and Wells’) eyes that they wanted to be up in that situation. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else up there.”

The seventh-inning rally saved a win that appeared to slip away an inning earlier. The Tigers led 2-1 after five, but NWU got a solo homerun to tie the game, and a pair of hits to take a 3-2 lead and inch closer to a two-game sweep.

Martinez was 2-for-4 in the win, Dana Baxa and Amy Torgerson were each 2-for-3 and Makinna Meeks had a hit and scored a run. Wells’ big hit in the seventh was scored an error.

Valerie Spencer earned the win on the mound, throwing all seven innings. She gave up three runs (four earned) on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

“(Spencer) threw good today,” McCarthy said. “The biggest thing for her is hitting her spots.”

DWU also got a good pitching performance in the first game, but the Prairie Wolves’ used two big innings and even better pitching to earn an 8-0 win. NWU struck for three runs in the third, then broke the game open with a four-run sixth, and it added a single run in the seventh to seal the win.

Torgerson allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits and two walks, but McCarthy thought her starter was much better than her stat line.

“I said to her after the end of that game I thought she pitched really well,” McCarthy said. “We didn’t have any offense to back her up and we made some pretty key errors in those innings.”

The Tigers had a few chances to get on the board against Prairie Wolves’ starter Ashley Tiedgen. DWU put two runners on in the first and the fifth innings, but both times Tiedgen was able to make key pitches and her defense made clutch plays behind her to keep the shutout intact.

“She’s a good pitcher, but I don’t think we hit the ball well,” McCarthy said. “We looked at a lot of strikes. We didn’t go up with the same type of aggressiveness that we had in the second game.”

Watson, Meeks, Baxa and Torgerson and Meghan Hauck accounted for the Tigers’ five hits in the game. Tiedgen struck out eight in seven innings.

DWU doesn’t have a ton of time off before its next GPAC doubleheader. The Tigers host Hastings College for a twin bill today at Cadwell Park. First pitch is set at 1 p.m., and McCarthy hopes her squad can carry over some momentum from Friday’s dramatic win.

“That’s exactly what we talked about in our huddle,” she said. “We hope it can carry over and hopefully our bats stay alive.”