St. Thomas Tops Muskingum, 7-4

The St. Thomas (MN) College softball team defeated Muskingum College in the Division III softball national championship round on Saturday night in Salem , VA. The Tommies improve to 44-4 on the season and advance to face Moravian College at 5:00pm on Sunday afternoon in Salem . The Muskies, who have their 27-game winning streak snapped, fall to 42-6 on the season and fall to the loser’s bracket where they will take on Chapman at 2:30pm on Sunday.

Two runs in the top of the second and another in the top of the third gave the Tommies a 3-0 edge. In the top of the second, Michelle Wong hit a deep sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Katie Wiberg from third base. Wiberg led off the inning with a single. With runners on second and third and two outs, Kaja Martinson singled to centerfield. Kathleen Fitzpatrick scored from third on the play. Carrie Embree tried to score from second, but was thrown out, center to catcher to third. In the third, Fitzpatrick singled in Ashley Carlblom from third to give the Tommies a 3-0 lead.

The Muskies trimmed the lead to two runs, scoring one of their own in the bottom of the third. Erin Zupko singled to center and Shauna Jellison singled down the leftfield line to get the scoring rally started. A double-steal put runners on second and third. Lindsay Bramhall then flew out, in foul territory, to leftfield, allowing Zupko to tag from third.

The two-run lead didn’t last long, with the Tommies scoring two more runs in the fourth inning. Catcher Nikki Conway led off the inning with a free pass to first. Michelle Wong sacrificed her to second. The next batter, Martinson hit a pop-up to second, but the Muskies could not field the ball cleanly, allowing Conway to reach third. The next pitch to the next batter went wild, bringing in Conway from third. Pitcher Janet Nagle then doubled to right centerfield to score Martinson from second base.

Muskingum got one back in the bottom of the fourth. The Tommies walked the bases loaded and Erin Zupko made them pay, a little, with an RBI single to shallow leftcenter. St. Thomas pitcher Janet Nagle then struck out the final two batters of the inning to get out of the frame without further harm done.

Two more runs in the bottom of the fifth brought the Muskies to within 6-4. With runners on second and third, Kim Tackett singled to left to bring in two runs.

The Tommies pushed their lead back up to three runs thanks to one swing of the bat by Kaja Martinson. Martinson swatted her 11^th homer of the season, send a shot over the leftfield fence to give St. Thomas a 7-4 lead.