Lady Spartans Start Season 4-0

The M State Lady Spartan softball team traveled to Rochester this weekend to play in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) Crossover Tournament and came away with four very impressive wins. The Lady Spartans beat Mesabi Range Community and Technical College 17-3, Northland Community and Technical College 11-0, Rainy River Community College 14-6 and finished the weekend with a hard fought 9-5 extra inning win over Itasca Community College. As a team the Lady Spartans hit at a.484 average with 10 home runs and 11 doubles while striking out only 7 times. 

“We think this a better team than what we have had the last few years” commented Lady Spartan head coach Steve King. “We have some quality sophomore leadership and some freshman that are very talented. Our hitting was impressive, but I was extremely happy with all aspects of the game. We ran the bases aggressively, fielded well and threw some high quality pitches. It’s early, but it was a fun weekend and it’s always nice to get off to a fast start.” 

Friday Game One: Lady Spartans 17- Mesabi Range 3 

Sophomore shortstop Doranna Blasyck blasted three towering home runs and had six runs batted in, freshman pitcher Tarryn Justeson struck out 9, and the Lady Spartans scored 12 runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by a Blasyck grand slam, to cruise to a 17-3 victory. 

Friday Game Two: Lady Spartans 11 – Northland 0 

Doranna Blasyck threw a complete game shutout and her replacement at shortstop, Lindsey Dierks, crushed three homerun s and had 7 runs batted in. 

Saturday Game: Lady Spartans 14 – Rainy River 6 

The Lady Spartans grabbed an early first inning lead of 3-1, fell behind 4-3 after two innings, and after some tentative defensive play, responded with four homeruns to pull away and win the game convincingly. The Lady Spartans had homeruns from sophomore Ally Jensen, freshman Sydney Imsande, freshman Sam Lupke, and freshman Cailey Bryant. Justeson pitched the complete game for the win. 

Saturday Game Two: Lady Spartans 9-Itasca 5 (8 innings)

Freshman pitcher Tarryn Justeson turned in a gritty pitching performance to lead the Lady Spartans to a 9-5 extra inning win over the Vikings from Itasca Community College. The Lady Spartans were short on pitching for the day and asked Justeson to take the ball again. Justeson threw a complete game on Friday, and came back Saturday morning against Rainy River and notched a complete game victory. She faltered slightly in the middle innings but really came on at the end and worked out of a couple of very tough situations. 

The Lady Spartans led 5-1 after their top of the third but Itasca rallied for a 5- 5 tie with two in the bottom of the third and another in the fourth. Justeson settled down and kept the Lady Spartans in the game with some quality pitches to get some big outs and force extra innings. In the top of the eighth an Ally Jensen single scored Dierks from second to give the Lady Spartans a 6-5 lead. Imsande reached on an error and a double by Lupke plated two more. Freshman Megan Riedel beat out a single to score 

another to make the score 9-5. Justeson struck out two of the three batters she faced in the bottom of the eighth and recorded her third win of the weekend. 

The Lady Spartans are scheduled to play NDSCS Wednesday at home. Times are 3:00 and 5:00.