Lady Spartans Earn Big Road Sweep

The M State Lady Spartan softball team got back on track Friday with a road sweep of Minnesota West Community and Technical College. They won game one 13-5 and game two 5-2.

"Maybe not our sharpest games, but we made the pitches and key defensive plays late in the games to win" commented head coach Steve King. "We trailed in both games and found a way to win at a place that has been traditionally a tough place for us to win. I'm very happy and proud of the way we played today."

The Lady Spartans got on the board first with a two out hit by Sydney Imsande that scored Amber Boese for a quick 1-0 lead. Mn West tied the score at 1-1 with a run in the bottom of the first. Imsande clutched up again in the third with another two out hit to score Haley Poehler and give the Lady Spartans a 2-1 lead. Mn West answered back with a single run in the third for a 2-2 tie.

Mn West scored two in the bottom of the fourth and took a 4-2 lead but the Lady Spartans answered right back in the top of the fifth on another RBI by Imsande and a run scoring single by Lindsey Dierks to tie the score at 4-4.

After that it was all Lady Spartans as they scored two more two out runs on a RBI single by Poehler and an error that gave the Lady Spartans a 6-4 lead. They broke the game open with a seven spot in the top of the seventh highlighted by a Megan Riedel two run double and finished the inning leading 13-4.  Mn West scored a single run in the bottom of the seventh for a final score of 13-5.

Tarryn Justesen pitched a complete game and earned the win.

In game two the Lady Spartans trailed 1-0 in the third before Ally Jensen roped double down the left field line to score Doranna Blasyck and tie the game at 1-1. Mn West scored again in the bottom of the fourth to take a 2-1 lead but once again the Lady Spartans owned the final innings of the game. They scored three runs in the top of the sixth on an error and another two out, two run base hit. Ally Jensen  delivered a sharp single to left that scored Blasyck and Boese and the Lady Spartans grabbed a 5-2 lead and never looked back.

 The Lady Spartans made some great defensive plays behind pitcher Justesen to keep the score 5-2 in the sixth. The Lady Spartans went quickly in the top of the seventh. Mn West threatened in the bottom of the seventh but a great catch on a little sinking line dive by 2nd baseman Ally Jensen turned into a game ending double play as she caught the ball running and made an on target flip to Imsande at first base for the Lady Spartan win.

Justesen threw a complete game for her second win of the day and she improver her record to 11-3. Sydney Imsande had five RBIs on the day and Ally Jensen had four hits and four RBIs in game two.

The Lady Spartans improve to 14-4 overall and 8-4 in the Southern Division of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference. They will host Ridgewater College at 3:00 Tuesday and Riverland College at 3:00 on Friday.