M State Lady Spartans Complete Florida Spring Trip

The Lady Spartans from M State Fergus Falls traveled to Titusville Florida to see some sunshine and play some early season games. The competition was extremely tough, and the Lady Spartans dropped all seven games they were able to play. Even though they were in the Sunshine State, most days saw delays and even cancelations of games, making scheduling difficult but the Lady Spartans did accomplish their goal of coming back to Minnesota a better team.

The games on Saturday, March 12, were cancelled due to the weather. The Lady Spartans did play two on Sunday, and they looked like they were fresh out of the gym. In a game that the Lady Spartans did not play very well, they lost to Monroe Community College 18-1. They then had to turn around and play a very good Alpena Community College team out of Michigan and lost that game 18-3. The highlight of game two was Mackenzie Foss solo homerun in the third inning.

On Monday, the Lady Spartans matched up against Monroe again, this time playing much better. The Lady Spartans two main pitchers both sustained injuries in the Sunday games and were not able to throw Monday. That put the Lady Spartans in a tough spot, but Mackenzie Foss and MacKenna Kehoe took the ball for the team and gave it all they had. Foss led off the game with a solo homerun, but Monroe would score the next 11runs for an 11-1 lead before the Lady Spartans came alive. In the third inning, four straight singles by Makayla Huus, Foss, Emma Bartels and Kehoe were followed by a double by Lydia Baker. The Lady Spartans pushed across three runs to make it 11-4. In the fourth inning, Carly Fuentes walked and scored on a base hit by Foss, Bartels singled and Kehoe brought Foss around on an RBI single to make the score 11-6. Monroe put the game away with four late runs and a 15-6 win.

The second game on Monday was against a NJCAA DII college, Lewis and Clark Community College. Being a DII college means you can give scholarships, and they really have a nice team. They beat the Lady Spartans 16-2 with Foss and Bartels the only two to reach base and score.

The competition didn't get any easier on Tuesday as the Lady Spartans squared off against the #5 ranked team in the nation, Rowan College South Jersey – Gloucester. The Lady Spartans did score the first run of the game on a Foss single and stolen base and an RBI single by Kehoe, but after that it was all Gloucester as they took the win 14-1. The second game of the day was against a familiar foe, nationally ranked Anoka Ramsey. The Golden Rams have a great team this year and are loaded with pitching. The only hit came from Foss, but the Lady Spartans did do a good job of being aggressive on the bases and taking advantage of some walks to score three runs in an 11-3 loss.

The final day of the trip was slated to be a doubleheader against Rainy River Community College out of International Falls. Titusville had received heavy rain the night before and the game times were pushed back a couple of hours, with more weather on the way. The Lady Spartans grabbed 2-1 first inning lead on a Foss walk, Kehoe RBI single and an Abby Tysdal RBI single. Rainy River would jump out to a 7-2 lead before the Lady Spartans really began to play. Maddy Schjerve settled down and was cruising pitching, the defense was playing well, and the bats came to life. Schjerve singled and scored in the fourth, Bartels doubled and scored on a single by Kehoe in the fifth to make it 7-4.

Schjerve set Rainy River down on five pitches in the top of the sixth to get the Lady Spartans back in the dugout swinging. Unfortunately, the game was delayed due to a medical emergency by one of the Rainy River players. She was having a seizure and they asked for a doctor, but there wasn't one, so two of the Lady Spartan nursing students, Hannah Scherr and Carly Fuentes, rushed over to the visiting dugout and took charge of the situation and administered the necessary aid. The Rainy River team and coaches were extremely grateful, and impressed, by the way these two student athletes handled the situation. 

In the bottom of the sixth, the two players that helped with the medical emergency, Scherr and Fuentes, led off with walks. Scherr scored on a single by Foss to make the score 7-5. With runners on first and second, nobody out, the Lady Spartans would not get the opportunity to finish the comeback as the game was delayed by lightning and eventually called off by rain.

The Lady Spartans are set to open up their home season on March 30 against U of M Morris JV. Game time is 3:00.