St. Norbert Holds on for Wild Split at UW-Stevens Point

From Sports Information Director, April 25, 2012 | Softball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

STEVENS POINT - St. Norbert College survived a furious UW-Stevens Point rally in order to hold on and split the non-conference doubleheader at McCarty Memorial Field. The Pointers won the opener 8-5 and the Green Knights took the nightcap 7-6 despite the host scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

St. Norbert (13-16) scored seven runs in the top of the first inning of the nightcap thanks to seven hits and two Pointers errors. Brittany Narges had an RBI single, while Brittany Bauknecht followed with a two-run single. Ashtin Schmechel, Jena Paul and Narges again all later had RBI singles in the inning.

The Pointers' one run in the bottom of the fifth inning was the only run scored until they scored five times in the bottom of the seventh and put the potential winning run on base. Sam Raddant's three-run home run pulled Stevens Point (13-23) to within 7-6. Three walks loaded the bases but the Pointers couldn't extend the game by scoring the game-tying run.

Narges was 3-for-4 in the game with two RBIS, while Schmechel was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Samantha Gross added a 2-for-4 showing for the Green Knights, who had 12 hits. Morgan Rusch got the win, allowing five hits with two walks and one strikeout in 6 1/3 innings of work.

Stevens Point took a 7-1 lead after two innings in the opener and held on from there. Bauknecht and MacKenzie Hazen had RBI singles in the third inning, and Schmechel had an RBI single in the sixth.

Gross and Schmechel were both 2-for-3, while Morgan Buboltz was 2-for-4. Shannen Schmidt took the loss, allowing seven hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.