Bennies Knocked Out Of MIAC Semi’s In Saturday Sports Recap

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

-- St. Ben’s was eliminated from the MIAC tournament on Saturday and now waits to see if they are selected for the NCAA D3 National tournament when those selections are announced at 10:00 a.m. on Monday. Bethel jumped on the Bennies early with a 2-run homerun by Autumn Earney and a fielder’s choice in the 1^st inning. Bethel held the 3-0 lead until the 4^th which was when Sammy Muetzel picked a great moment to hit her first career home run. Her 3-run blast down the left field line tied the game 3-3. Unfortunately, Bethel answered right back with a 2-run homer in the top of the 5^th and they were able to make the 5-3 score stand. Olivia Wallace took the loss in relief.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

--The University of Minnesota rebounded from their loss on Friday to Michigan State by pounding the Spartans on John Anderson Day at Siebert Field.  The Gophers wasted no time getting going in the 1^st. Josh Fitzgerald started the scoring with an RBI single to left. He was followed by a 3-run double by Boston Merila and an RBI double by Sam Hunt giving Minnesota a 5-0 lead. Weber Neels homered in the 2^nd and Ike Mezzenga homered in the 3^rd making it 7-0. The barrage continued with the Gophers adding two more runs in the 4^th, and then Hunt and Fitzgerald homered as part of a 6-run 5^th inning making it 15-0 after 5.  The Spartans managed to score 3 combined runs in the 6^th and 7th but it was way too little too late. The Gophers put up a few more runs in the 7^th and 8^th for good measure to make the final 21-3. Connor Wietgrefe picked up the win throwing 5.2 innings, giving up just one run with 5 strikeouts. The two teams will play the rubber game in the series on Sunday.

TRACK & FIELD:

-- St. Cloud State closed out the final day at the NSIC Outdoor Championships on Saturday with three season bests. Elena Martinez-Rodriguez hit a new best in the triple jump with a leap of 10.97 m. In the 4 X 400 relay the team of Katie Lavato, Makaylin Christenson, Audrey Rabitz, and Jenna Marxhausen ran a season top mark of 3.59.78 knocking over 5 seconds off their previous best of 4:05:22. Finally in the 4 X 100 relay the quartet of Lavato, Marxhausen, Myesha Thompson and Viola Okey-Ezealah hit their season-best run of 48.80 beating their old mark by over 1 second.  The team finished the tourney in 13^th place with 8 points.

--St. Ben’s closed out its season at the MIAC Championships with 5 individual titles and a 3^rd place finish. Fiona Smith ended her stellar Bennies career with three of the titles taking 5,000 m in 16:51:63, the 1,500 m in 4:28:55, and the 10,000 m in 34:15:01. Smith earned 20 All-MIAC honors in all in her St. Ben’s tenure. Jaylyn Ahlberg took first in the pole vault at 3.71 m and Sabriya Farguharson brought home first in the long jump at 5.61 m. In all St. Ben’s had a program-best 13 All-MIAC honors at the meet.

--St. John’s also had a great performance at the MIAC Championships finishing 2^nd. The Johnnies won four individual titles on route to taking 2^nd place. Kevin Arthur brought home first for the 3^rd year in a row in both the 100 and 200 m dashes. He set a personal best in the 100 m with a time of 10:32. Jackson McDowell leaped ed to first with a 2.10 m high jump. In the hammer throw Jaeden Frost got first with a toss of 52.62 m. The Johnnies aren’t done yet, they will end their season with two meets this week on Wednesday and Thursday.

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