BOX SCORE (Game 1)
BOX SCORE (Game 2)
ORANGE CITY, Iowa – A pair of run-rule victories for (RV) Midland University softball extended the win-streak to 11-straight and earned the Warriors the Great Plains Athletic Conference Regular-Season title. Midland finished 20-2 in the league and heads into the postseason with a 32-7 overall record.
Midland took the first game by a score of 9-1 in six innings and capped off the day with a five-inning romping in 11-3 fashion. The Warriors have put together 14 run-rule wins this season and have outscored the opposition 283-132 along the way.
Game One: Midland 9, Northwestern 1
The Warriors scored first as Katlin Anders sent a single to right field to plate Andrea Cespedes. Midland would then explode to a 7-0 lead behind a six-run third inning. Runs came home on a single from Anders, and double from Sierra Athow, and a three-run blast from Keira Painter. Northwestern picked up a hit in the bottom of the inning, but nothing was cooking for the Red Raiders.
Midland tacked on another in the fourth inning, moving the game into run-rule territory after a solo homer from Anders cleared the left-field wall. The Red Raiders had a promising start to the bottom of the frame when the leadoff batter got one with a double. Midland’s defense executed a pair of groundouts to put two down on the board, but a single followed to put runners on the corners. The threat was wiped away after a popup to short moved things to the fifth.
Northwestern’s first run of the day came in the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to four-straight singles to score a runner from third. Midland got out of the inning without further damage thanks to a strikeout and foul out. The Warriors got the run back in the top of the sixth, going up 9-1, and closed out the bottom of the inning for the run-rule win.
- Katlin Anders: 4-of-4, 5 RBI, 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 runs, 1 SB
- Keira Painter: 1-of-3, 3 RBI, 1 HR
- Emily Prai: 2-of-4, 2 runs, 1 SB
- Andrea Cespedes: 2-of-4, 2 runs, 2 2B
- Hailee Fliam: 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 K
Game Two: Midland 11, Northwestern 3
Northwestern saw a brief lead after three innings of play, going up 3-2, but the Warriors responded in a big way. A five-run fourth inning saw Midland ahead 7-4. The offensive outburst featured RBI’s from Cespedes, Anders, Foote, and Pfitzer. The Warriors were helped out by a pair of fielding errors on the side of Northwestern.
The good times continued to roll into the fifth inning when a double from Prai plated Ali Smith from first base. Cespedes followed with a single to shallow center field to bring around for a 9-3 lead. Cespedes and Anders joined their teammates back in the dugout when Athow sent one down the right-field line for a two-RBI single to bring the lead to 11-3 heading in the bottom of the inning. The Red Raiders weren’t able to get a rally started in the inning, going down in order to give Midland the Saturday sweep.
- Roni Foote: 3-of-4, 2 RBI, 1 run
- Katlin Anders: 1-of-4, 2 RBI, 3 runs
- Sierra Athow: 1-of-1, 2 RBI, 1 run
- Aliyah Rincon: 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 2 K
Up Next
Midland (32-7, 20-2 GPAC) will be the No. 1 seed heading into the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament. The Warriors will host a pod of four teams at Christensen Field starting on Wednesday, May 5.
