Despite finals week approaching quickly, the Winona State softball team wasn’t tested as much as they were expecting.
The Warriors played in the Concordia-St. Paul Tournament, where they competed against five of the best teams in the North Central Region.
However, the tournament was cancelled due to rainy weather over the weekend.
As a result, Winona State’s only match-up was against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe, Concordia-St. Paul last Wednesday at Midwest Wireless Stadium.
Coming into the double-header, the Golden Bears and the Warriors were only two of three undefeated teams left in NSIC conference play, but that quickly changed.
The two teams split the double-header with Concordia winning the first game and Winona State winning the second.
The Warriors got off to a rocky start in the first game and couldn’t rebound as they were shut out 6-0.
Concordia’s Emily Schmikla pitched a complete game shutout allowing only five hits and one walk in seven innings.
“I think we tried to do too much in our at-bats,” said Winona State coach Greg Jones about the offense. “The first inning of the game they really set the tone on the offense and defensive sides of the ball.”
The Warriors did not help their cause to start out the game.
Natalie Mast for Concordia led the game off with a double and scored the leadoff run on an error by Warrior third baseman Laura Wright.
The Golden Bears added two runs in the first and one in the second on yet another error, this time by Kristen Fossel giving Concordia a 3-0 lead.
The game became out of reach in the fourth inning.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Tiffani Rodd slammed a double that scored three runs, giving Concordia-St. Paul a 6-0 lead.
From that point on, Winona State could not rebound and the Golden Bears went on to win by that final score.
It was one of the few average outings for Fossel in the game.
Fossel pitched only three innings and allowed six hits; four runs with only one earned and recorded three strikeouts in 17 batters faced.
Chelsea Ewing replaced Fossel in the fourth inning.
Ewing pitched four innings, giving up two hits, two runs, and one walk and struck out three of the 16 batters she faced.
With Winona State reeling in the first game, it was imperative for them to pick up a win in the second game.
The Warriors took the first lead with some impressive hitting and base running by Chelsea Rosenow.
Rosenow stole second and third base and scored on a passed ball to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
The Warriors relinquished the lead in the top of the fifth inning as Concordia-St. Paul scored three runs on three hits to gain a 3-1 lead.
Winona State scored one run in the bottom of the fifth with more impressive base running by Rosenow.
She managed to get from first to home again on two errors and a passed ball, cutting the lead to 3-2.
Winona State would reclaim the lead in the sixth inning.
Again, it was Rosenow taking advantage of the situation.
With runners on the corners, Rosenow slapped a double to score two runs, giving Winona State a 4-3 lead.
Rosenow along with Amanda Wilhelm both scored on passed balls later in the inning to give the Warriors a 6-3 lead going into the seventh inning.
Concordia tried to make the game interesting in the seventh.
With two outs, Concordia’s Nicole Tischer reached on an error and Abby Brundidge slapped a double to score one run, making the score 6-4.
However, the Golden Bears could not generate any more offense as Winona State held on to win.
Rosenow had a great performance as she batted 2-for-3 in the game with a single, double, and a walk.
She scored three runs and recorded two RBIs while stealing two bases.
“Chelsea’s a senior and that goes a long way,” said Jones. “She’s been a great leader for us on the field and off the field. She’s in the top 10 in 11 different categories in the Winona State softball records.”
As a team, the Warriors were able to take advantage of four Golden Bear errors and advanced runners on eight passed balls.
“I thought we ran the bases real aggressively,” said Jones. “We found different ways to create offense. She (Struzynski) kept them off the scoreboard until we could do what we needed to do.”
Stacy Struzynski, the Warriors freshman phenom has been a dynamite player for the Warriors pitching this season and had another solid outing.
Struzynski pitched seven innings while giving up four runs, three earned, while walking two and striking out eight with 31 batters faced.
With the win, the Warriors improved to 8-1 in NSIC play and 22-9 overall.
The Warriors took on Upper Iowa on Tuesday but the games were completed after this paper went to print.
Winona State controls their own destiny now as they will play the top team in the NSIC, Southwest Minnesota State on Thursday and then will participate in their second NSIC Crossover on the weekend.
“The level of importance is that it’s going to be a big week,” said Jones. “It’s going to be nine games in one week and the script is going to be written in that week.”
The Warriors will play five games in two days against Mary, Minnesota State-Moorhead, Minnesota-Crookston, Bemidji State, and Northern State.
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