Green Knights Split With Grinnell

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, April 13, 2019 | Softball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa - St. Norbert College settled for a split with Grinnell College, winning the opener 9-5 before falling in the nightcap 8-5 in a pair of Midwest Conference games at Cornell College.

The Green Knights (14-10, 7-3 MWC) scored in every at bat in the opener, pounding out 13 hits.

Alyssa Sikora had an RBI single in the first inning, while Brianna Braeger's RBI double put the Green Knights ahead 2-1. Alyssa Sikora smacked a solo home run in the third inning, while Morgan Moxon had an RBI groundout and Carley Frauenhoff an RBi single in the fourth inning for a 5-1 lead. St. Norbert scored a single run in the fifth inning when Sikora hit her second home run of the game.

Grinnell would draw within a run by getting four runs in the top of the sixth inning to trail just 6-5. St. Norbert responded with three runs on four hits in its half of the inning, getting consecutive RBI doubles from Moxon, Frauenhoff and Taylor Ullman.

Braeger, Frauenhoff and Sikora were all 3-for-4. Breager doubled twice, while Sikora homered twice. Emma Molenhouse picked up the complete-game win, allowing nine hits and two earned runs with no walks and one strikeout.

Grinnell would jump out to an 8-1 lead in the fifth inning of the nightcap before St. Norbert would mount a late rally. The Green Knights would tie the second game at 1-1 on a first-inning RBI single by Ullman, but the Pioneers would score once in the second, four times in the fourth and twice in the fifth to push ahead by seven runs.

St. Norbert would score two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Moxon had a two-run double in the fifth, while Ashley Zimmerman and Allison Knop had run-scoring doubles in the sixth inning.

Braeger was 2-for-4 for the Green Knights. Ellie Olsen took the loss, allowing nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.