Softball conference season kicks off with MLC, UWS in "Game of the Week"
*Photo credits: UMAC, Martin Luther Sports Information
Saturday, April 1, 2017 - Softball: Martin Luther at Wisconsin-Superior
***UPDATE***
MLC wins 4-3, UWS wins 4-1
ST. PAUL, Minn.---Spring has officially sprung and the upcoming weather couldn’t look better for the first day of April in Minnesota. With that, the start of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) softball season should get off to an exciting start with great weather and enticing matchups on the horizon.
A year ago, the University of Wisconsin-Superior joined the UMAC for the first time and made an impression finishing third overall in the standings and scooping up the conference postseason title with a thrilling upset of the College of St. Scholastica in game seven of the 2016 UMAC tournament.
This season, the Yellowjackets will have a target on their back as teams like Martin Luther College look to continue building toward a playoff bid for the first time since 2013. The two teams will meet up Saturday to kick off the conference slate in hopes of developing a strong conference resume in the first “UMAC Game of the Week” for the softball season.
Both teams have picked up a few wins to start the non-conference portion of the season with Wisconsin-Superior coming in at 7-8 – the top UMAC non-conference mark so far this season – while Martin Luther enters the doubleheader with a 6-7 overall record.
Each team has several players who have stepped up early in the season and enter the contests hoping to get an early jump in the standings. Wisconsin-Superior has won two of its last three and earned two non-conference wins over Crown College, while Martin Luther split in a non-conference doubleheader with rival Bethany Lutheran and put together a four-game winning streak earlier in March.
Last season, the two squads met in the second weekend of conference play with Wisconsin-Superior holding Martin Luther to just one run in the two-game series. The Yellowjackets gave up just one hit in a 3-0 shutout in game one in new Ulm, Minnesota. In the second game, Wisconsin-Superior collected 10 hits en route to a 6-1 win.
A year ago, both team’s statistical performances matched their finishes in the standings with Wisconsin-Superior ranking in the top three in many conference hitting and pitching categories, while Martin Luther was just outside the top five. The Yellowjackets ranked the top three in batting average (.342), on-base percentage (.400), slugging percentage (.472), RBI (98), earned run average (ERA) (2.17), opponent strikeouts (76) and opponent walks (10). Martin Luther was tied for third in stolen bases (17), and ranked in the top six in doubles (27), triples (4), ERA (4.67), runs allowed (96) and earned runs (64).
Heading into the season, both teams were in good shape to find success with returning veterans who could lead both programs. The tournament champions welcomed back All-UMAC First Team pitcher
Sarah Hendrickson who led the league in wins (20) last season. The Yellowjackets also saw the return of All-UMAC selection
Ciarra Taipale and Honorable Mention
Katie White.
The Knights are in good position to find success again this season with the return of All-UMAC pick
Megan Lemke and Honorable Mention
Jessica Friebe. Lemke was in the UMAC top 10 in several hitting categories as a sophomore and batted .438 for the Knights, while Friebe ranked in the top five in stolen bases (5) and tallied 12 overall last season.
The conference coaches put Wisconsin-Superior as a contender for the title again with 56 points and one first place vote in the UMAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, while Martin Luther hopes to fly under the radar after being picked seventh with just 21 points.
The Match Up
Though early in the season, Saturday’s doubleheader could be a huge advantage for either team should they win one or take both contests. For Wisconsin-Superior, a pair of wins would keep it on pace for a postseason finish. If Martin Luther could steal one or both games, it could go a long way in making a push for a playoff spot.
Wisconsin-Superior started off the season with a strong win over a consistently solid University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point team in the first game of the year before winning a stretch of three games. On their spring break trip, the Yellowjackets picked up five wins – including a sweep of a Crown team that made the UMAC tournament last year – and lost three of the remaining six by two runs or less.
Martin Luther won just nine games all of last season and five came in conference play. This year’s Knights are well on their way to surpassing that mark with six in the bag already. The Knights lost four-straight games to open the season – three which came against two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) squads – before going undefeated at the North Central University dome tournament in mid-March for five-straight wins. They enter Saturday’s contest coming off an impressive 7-1 non-conference defeat of Bethany Lutheran.
In overall games this season, Martin Luther holds a slight advantage in team batting average (.257) over Wisconsin-Superior (.241). The Knights also rank in the top three in slugging percentage (.344), on-base percentage (.339) and lead the league in fielding percentage (0.957). Wisconsin-Superior isn’t far off in slugging (.336) and is one of just four teams with more than 100 hits already this year. The Yellowjackets boast the top ERA (2.33), while Martin Luther is fifth (5.66).
Need to Know – Wisconsin-Superior
- Hendrickson accounted for 60 percent of the Yellowjackets’ innings pitched in 2016.
- Wisconsin-Superior added nine first-year players after losing 10 from last year’s roster.
- Six of the Yellowjackets’ games in 2017 have been decided by two runs or less.
Need to Know – Martin Luther
- Martin Luther graduated pitcher Kathryn Marquardt who finished as the program leader in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched.
- Junior
Friebe is 33-of-39 in stolen base attempts in her career and 6-of-7 already in 2017.
- The Knights have scored three of fewer runs in each of their seven losses this season.
Who to Watch – Wisconsin-Superior
Rookie
Bailey Kinnunen has been the star for the Yellowjackets early on. She has already been selected UMAC Player of the Week and her .385 average ranks seventh in the UMAC. The first-year also ranks in the top 10 for slugging (.513) and on-base (.442).
Saige Patrick has appeared in 11 games with a team-best .389 average, 14 hits and a .513 slugging mark, while
White has started all 15 games and has 14 hits, a team-best 11 runs, three RBI and is 6-of-7 in stolen bases.
Hendrickson has pitched five complete games, while rookie
Megan Pehrson has a UMAC-best 1.41 ERA in her 49.2 innings pitched.
Who to Watch – Martin Luther
Audrey Timm has already picked up a Player of the Week honor to set the tone for the Knights. She ranks in the top 10 in the UMAC for slugging (.515) and on-base (.452).
Amanda Schoch leads Martin Luther at the plate with the fifth-best UMAC average (.389), while Timm,
Friebe and
Aimee Ashman are all batting above .300 and have played in at least 10 games. Friebe also owns a team-best 12 runs and is second with 13 hits behind Schoch’s leading 14.
Kelli Doell has pitched a team-leading 28.2 innings and has a 4.64 ERA in her 13 appearances. Doell,
Morgan Palubicki and
Rebecca Pruss both have two wins each.
The Basics
The conference doubleheader between Wisconsin-Superior and Martin Luther is set for this Saturday, April 1 with game one of the series set for 1 p.m. The contest will take place on the campus of Martin Luther in New Ulm, Minnesota.
The “Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Game of the Week” is a feature that takes place each week throughout the conference portion of the season with one contest being selected and highlighted as the “UMAC Game of the Week”.
| Game of the Week Archives |