Lady Spartans Win Two at Home

The Lady Spartans used great defense and effective pitching to win a pair of games from Ridgewater College on Tuesday on the M State campus. The score of both games was 4-1, with the Lady Spartans scoring all their runs in each game in one inning. They then pitched well and really excelled in the field to sweep the doubleheader and improve their record to 16-4.

In game one the Lady Spartans strung together four hits in the second inning to score all the runs they would need. Sam Lupkes and Jillen Tenneson had one out singles and Haley Poehler laced a RBI double. Doranna Blascyk singled to score Tenneson and Poehler to give the Lady Spartans a 3-0 lead. Blascyk stole second and scored on a single by Sydney Imsande for a 4-0 Lady Spartan lead.

That would be all they would need as Tarryn Justesen continues to win games pitching for the Lady Spartans. She threw a complete game striking out 13 Ridgewater batters.

Game two followed the same offensive recipe as game one with the Lady Spartans scoring all their runs in one inning. This time it the Lady Spartans trailed Ridgewater 1-0 before breaking the game open. Ally Jensen and Sydney Imsande jumped on the first pitches they saw to open the third inning with singles. CaileyBryant drove a double to right center to score Jensen and tie the score at 1-1. Nicole Anderson ripped a two out double to left field to score Imsande and Bryant for a 3-1 lead. Anderson would come around to score on a hit by Lydia Klemetson and give the Lady Spartans a 4-1 lead.

That score would stand as Tarryn Justesen worked out of trouble and was helped by some tremendous defense. Blascyk made as fine of a play as we have seen all season as she went deep behind third base to track down a little pop fly for the third out and prevent two runs from scoring. Center fielder Lindsey Dierks got into the action as she threw a runner out at third trying to advance from first on a single. Amber Boese stretched to the outfield side of third base to receive the throw from Dierks and stuck the tag for another important out.

Left fielder Lydia Klemetson killed another Ridgewater threat with a great running catch while racing into left center field on a hard hit ball. The final out of the game came with two runners on base for Ridgewater and their very good cleanup hitter at the plate. She hit the ball deep to center field but Dierks showed great speed tracking the ball down and made a great running catch to end the game.

Justesen worked out of several jams in the second game but was very effective. She struck out 7 more Ridgewater batter to give her 20 strikeouts on the day. She won both games and improves her record to 13-2.

The Lady Spartans complete their home schedule with a doubleheader against Riverland College on Friday. First pitch is 3:00.