ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College softball team (36-9-1, 15-6-1 GPAC) battled against the University of Jamestown Jimmies and the unfavorable weather conditions and picked up their sixth win in a row in game one and a tie in game two.
GAME 1: Northwestern 7, Jamestown 1
The Raiders struck first on an RBI single by Gwen Mikkelsen (Jr., Casa Grande, Ariz.) in the top of the first inning.
Jamestown would respond with a run of their own in the bottom of the first.
The Raiders took the lead again in the third inning with a Bri Giordano (Jr., Arroyo Grande, Calif.) double (2-1). Giordano displayed heads up base running scoring on a throw down to second on a stolen base attempt.
Jordyn Kramer (Sr., Larchwood, Iowa) broke the game open with a homerun over the center field wall in the sixth inning, scoring two and giving the Raiders a 5-1 lead.
The Raiders tacked on two more runs in the seventh with a Jennifer Boeve (Jr., Hastings, Neb.) RBI double, Giordano would follow suit and double down the left field line to score Boeve (7-1).
GAME 2: Northwestern 9, Jamestown 9
The Raiders got on the board first with an RBI ground out by Mikkelsen in the top of the first. Northwestern was able to score again in the top of the second on a double to left center by Emily Strasser (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) (2-0).
The Raiders had a big offensive inning the third, scoring four runs. Giordano got things started with a solo homerun to left field (3-0). With two outs, Chloe Gallegos (Fr., Carroll, Iowa) smacked a homerun down the left field line, scoring three runs and extending the lead to 6-0.
The Jimmies would fight back and score three in the bottom of the third. A sacrifice ground out would score the first run, followed by a two-RBI double to make it 6-3.
The fourth inning saw another Jimmie run via a solo homerun over the left field wall (6-4).
Jamestown would continue to chip away, scoring another run by way of a solo homerun, trimming the Raider lead down to 6-5.
The Raiders made a huge defensive play on a double by the Jimmies in the top of the sixth. The Jimmie runner tried to stretch a double into a triple and the Raider relay was able to tag her out at third base.
With the weather deteriorating as the inning beginning, Northwestern tacked on a much-needed insurance run in the top of the seventh. Strasser singled up the middle to score one (7-5). The Raiders added another run on a wild pitch and their final run on a hard single up the middle by Madysn Grotewold (So., Larchwood, Iowa) to score the ninth run.
The Jimmies again responded with a run on an RBI double to trim the lead to 9-6. A single scored two runs as a Raider fielder was unable to find her footing and the lead was cut down to 9-8. Another single tied the game at nine.
Due to weather and field conditions the game was called after seven innings, ending in a tie.
