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  • Minnesota State's Kelly Wood is greeted by her teammates at home plate after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning of their NCAA Division II Regional softball game against Concordia University Saturday at MSU. Pat Christman

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May 5, 2012

MSU softball team in title round despite Day 2 loss

Defense haunts Mavericks in loss to Concordia

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor

MANKATO — The Minnesota State softball team had not been playing very good defense over the last nine days but had been able to win in spite of it.

That trend came to an end Saturday morning when the Mavericks gave up three unearned runs and wound up losing 6-5 to Concordia University in the third round of the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament. The Golden Bears used a two-out, two-run homer from Erin Tjornhom in the top of the seventh to rally for the win.

“It came back to bite us today,” Meyer said of her defense. “The deeper you get into these tournaments, the better the teams you play. You can’t afford to give them extra outs because they’ll take advantage of it.”

The Mavericks got a shot at redemption later in the day, playing errorless ball on the way to a 5-1 elimination win over Minnesota Duluth. The triumph puts MSU (49-9) into today’s finals against Concordia University.

In Saturday’s opening game, MSU made only two errors, but they were costly. In the top of the third, first baseman Kelly Wood was unable to field a dribbler up the line. That runner, and the one behind her, ended up scoring.

In the seventh, third baseman Brittani Robinson threw wildly to first, allowing Alicia Meiser to get on board in front of Tjornhom’s decisive two-run shot.

“I thought she was going to throw me something inside because I hit an outside pitch for a double earlier in the game,” Tjornhom said of her final at-bat. “I fouled off two inside pitches, and then I was able to get one into the air that went out. I was just trying to get a base hit, not hit a home run.”

As big a factor as the defense was the Mavericks’ inability to get the key hit. They scored once in the first but left the bases loaded. They also left runners on second and third in both the fourth and sixth innings.

MSU’s Wood belted a two-run homer in the third and the Mavericks added an unearned run in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead. Concordia chipped away, however, getting a two-run single from Cassie Bertelsen off reliever Courtney McKelvogue to close the gap to 5-4.

After Tjornhom’s blast, the Mavericks went down in order in the bottom of the seventh on three pop outs. Ashley Kluever went the distance for the win, allowing four earned runs on six hits, walking five and striking out three.

Tjornhom and Missie Feuerbach led Concordia with two hits apiece. McKelvogue took the loss in relief of starter Kendra Huettl, allowing two earned runs on three hits in 1 2/3 innings.

Against Minnesota Duluth, Huettl tossed a superb game, allowing no hits until Kierra Jeffers beat out an infield single with two outs in the fourth. Huettl ended up scattering four hits and striking out eight without walking a batter.

“She pitched very well tonight,” Meyer said. “She moved the ball inside and outside effectively and did a nice job of setting up hitters.”

Leading 1-0, MSU blew it open in the bottom of the sixth. After a leadoff walk to Lauryn Morris, Meyer flashed the bunt sign to Lindsay Erickson, who failed to get it down. Two pitches later, she laced a double to the fence in left-center for a 2-0 lead.

Chelsea Erickson followed with a line-drive, two-run homer over the left field fence. MSU picked up its final run later in the inning on Eryn Edgerton’s RBI single.

When asked about giving her red-hot hitter (9 for 9, two homers, two doubles and a triple) Lindsay Erickson the bunt sign, Meyer admitted it wasn’t an easy decision.

“At that point I was just trying to play the percentages. We were only up by a run at the time, but yes, I had to think about it.”

Erickson admitted she wasn’t expecting the sign.

“I was a little surprised, mostly because I’m not a very good bunter,” she said. “I was glad she didn’t give it to me a second time.

“I just feel really comfortable at the plate right now. I guess I’m in a zone.”

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