The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Megan Brownell photojournalist
This past weekend, Gorilla softball traveled up to Topeka, KAN. on Feb 24-26 to play in the Washburn Invitational Tournament. Game one was called a no contest after weather, but the Gorillas finished the weekend 3-0 to improve their record to 10-6.
Redshirt junior right handed pitcher Lilli Weir thought the team played really well over the weekend and has shown improvement from the beginning of the season.
“I thought the games went really well, especially compared to how we started the season,” Weir said. “We have been a lot more together since then.”
Game one they first played Southwestern Minnesota State University, and went up 18-0 after three innings. During the game though, an ice storm hit and the game was called a no contest and would not be made up. Weir was disappointed about the game being canceled, but was pleased with the performance the team was putting up before the cancellation.
“We were getting rain frozen on us, and the other team was struggling as well,” Weir said. “We kept getting walked or we would get hits, so someone coming to our dugout in the third inning to tell us the game was canceled sucked.”
Day two of the tournament they first played University of Missouri St.Louis, and won 7-2. PSU held a lead for the entire game, and struck first with two runs in the second inning. They scored one more run each in the next two innings to go up 4-0 after four. They scored three more in the seventh inning, and though UMSL scored two runs of their own, it was not enough to pull off a comeback.
The next game they played was against St.Cloud State University, and they won 3-2. St.Cloud took an early lead with two one run innings to start the game, but PSU took two runs in the second inning to tie it. Neither team scored again, until the bottom of the seventh inning when redshirt junior infielder Gabby Schultz hit a sac-fly to take the walk-off win. Head coach Jenny Fuller looked back on the weekend as a whole and how it was to go undefeated against tough teams and even in very cold weather.
“We played some tough teams, and the weather was tough which kind of levels the playing field,” Fuller said. “Anything could have happened, so I think our players were very gritty and gutted out the wins.”
Lastly, on Sunday they played Minnesota-Crookston University, and won 8-6. MCU took the first lead of the game with four runs to start the first inning. PSU scored two of their own in the first to put the game at 4-2. MCU extended their lead with one run in the second inning, but PSU was able to take that lead with four runs in the second to make it 6-5. MCU tied it back up in the fourth inning, but another run from PSU took it to 7-6. PSU scored one more run in the sixth for assurance, and gave them the win.
Gorilla softball will be back at home Mar 4-5 to play in the MIAA/GLVC crossover. They will play University of Missouri Science and Technology, Truman State University, and Rockhurst University. Fuller is excited to return home for these next games, and to hopefully continue this winning streak.
“I am excited they are at home, but we are excited to get out there and compete, and hopefully keep it rolling and get better every time we play,” Fuller said.