FAYETTE, Iowa – The Minnesota State University Moorhead softball team dropped a pair of close games to Upper Iowa on Sunday, losing 3-1 and 3-2 in Fayette, Iowa.
MSUM is now 14-26 overall and 7-17 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference while Upper Iowa improved to 31-13 overall and 17-5 in the league. The Peacocks are just a half game behind a three-way tie for first in the NSIC.
"We competed well in both games," MSUM head coach
Kelsey Fehl said. "Our pitching kept us in both games. We gave ourselves chances offensively, but we just couldn't get the key hits."
Senior
Morgan Nybo pitched well despite taking the loss in the opener, going the distance. She allowed three runs (two earned) in six innings, striking out five while walking three. At the plate she was 1-for-2 with an RBI.
Junior designated hitter
Jill Fox was 1-for-3 with a run scored, while freshman shortstop
Taylor Roddie was 1-for-3 with a stolen base. Junior first baseman
Lauren Meeker had a double.
Upper Iowa scored an unearned run in the first to take a 1-0 lead. The Dragons tied the game in the second. With one out, Fox singled, and Meeker followed with a double. Nybo singled to right to score Fox, tying the game at 1-1.
The Peacocks scored on a bunt in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead, and added an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI single.
In the second game, sophomore designated hitter
Sydney Beck was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer. Meeker and Fox each had doubles, while senior pitcher
Kristen Nordby and senior left fielder
Kristy Bruni had hits.
Nordby took the loss despite a solid outing. She allowed three earned runs in six innings, striking out four while walking two.
Upper Iowa took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, and a two-run homer by Sammons in the fifth gave the Peacocks a 3-0 lead.
MSUM rallied in the seventh. With one out, Meeker doubled, and freshman
KyLee Bartholomay pinch-ran for her. One out later, Beck homered – her first collegiate home run – to score Bartholomay to bring MSUM within 3-2. The Dragons brought the tying run to the plate but a strikeout ended the game.
MSUM will play its final conference road doubleheader on Wednesday at St. Cloud State. The twinbill begins at 1 p.m. in St. Cloud, Minn.
