MANKATO —
The defense was fine and the pitching was OK. In the end, it was the much-heralded offense that let the Minnesota State University softball team down.
Concordia University right-hander Ashley Kluever shut the Mavericks down on one hit Sunday, leading her team to a 3-1 victory in the championship game of the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament at MSU.
Minnesota State came into the tournament hitting .307 as a team, wielding a .469 slugging percentage and having outscored their opposition 3-1 (306 runs to 102). Kluever was not intimidated, however, as she mixed her pitches well and found her spots in key situations to outduel Kendra Huettl for the victory.
“I didn’t change a thing,” said Kluever, referring to the first time she faced MSU in the tournament and won 6-5. “I just tried to pitch my game and kept them off balance the best I could. I went up and down a lot and I think that kept them guessing.”
The Mavericks’ only hit came in the top of the second when Brittani Robinson led off with a double to left center. She eventually scored her team’s only run on a passed ball.
Kluever pitched her way out of serious jams in both the first and second innings. MSU had the bases loaded on three straight walks with one out in the first, but Kluever struck out the next two batters.
In the second, Robinson doubled and Amanda Umhoefer walked and MSU eventually had a second and third situation with one out. But again, Kluever got out of it by inducing a fly out to short left field and a ground out to second.
MSU advanced only one runner beyond first base the rest of the way as Kluever finished with five strikeouts and eight walks.
“We were familiar with their lineup so we knew who their key hitters were,” Concordia head coach Bob Bartel said. “Ashley did a great job of pitching around her walks. The defense played well behind her and we got some key hits and we were fortunate enough to win.”
The Golden Bears staged their winning rally in the bottom of the second. They put the first two batters on and then tied the game with an RBI single down the right-field line from Katie Feurbach and went ahead on another run-scoring single from Anderson.
Concordia scored an insurance run in the third when Erin Tjornhom beat out an infield single, advanced to third on consecutive base hits and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cassie Bertelsen.
Concordia finished sixth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings this season and went into the tournament as the No. 5 seed in the region. Center fielder Katie Anderson probably summed it up best.
“It’s definitely a Cinderella story for us. We played loose the whole tournament; the pressure was on the other teams.”
Huettl went the distance for the Mavericks, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, fanning four and walking five.
“Kenny pitched a good game for us,” Meyer said. “She got into a little bit of trouble in the second and third but, otherwise, she pretty much shut them down.”
MSU senior Chelsea Erickson said she was as surprised as anybody by the Mavericks’ lack of offense in the game.
“We didn’t see that coming,” she said of the one-hitter. “We needed to be more patient than we were. We just didn’t get it done.”
Chelsea Erickson, Huettl, second baseman Amanda Umhoefer and leadoff batter Melanie Upchurch are all seniors and will not be back next spring. They helped MSU go 49-10 in their final season.
Concordia (33-21) now advances to the Super Regional next weekend where it will take on Augustana in a best-of-3 series in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Sports
Related Photos
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Minnesota State catcher Lindsay Erickson successfully blocked the plate and made the tag on Concordia’s Brynn Larsen in the second inning of Sunday’s championship game. The throw came in on one hop from right-fielder Melanie Upchurch. Sport Pix
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