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Seniors Cassie Smith and Biz Sitzmann’s solid pitching performances led the St. Thomas softball team (28-4, 14-0 MIAC) to an 11-3, 7-0 home sweep Sunday over third-place Bethel (16-10, 7-3 MIAC).
Sitzmann (12-1) went the distance for the Tommies in the first game, giving up three runs on 10 hits. Smith (11-1) threw a complete game shutout in game two, giving up four hits and striking out seven batters.
“Their pitching has improved so much since the fall,” freshman catcher Emily Gregory said. “They’ve been working super hard to get where they are now. I have all the confidence in the world that they’re going to hit their spots when they need to and throw the right pitches all the time.”
St. Thomas started the first game with a dominating first inning. Lead-off hitter Alyssa Dunrud singled, senior Erica Wilson was hit in the head with a wild pitch and senior All-American Sydney Marquardt reached base on a Bethel error. With the bases loaded, Gregory hit a grand slam over the center field fence to make the game 4-0.
“Em’s (Gregory’s) grand slam was a bomb,” senior Becky Eischens said. “It was a huge motivator for our team, while also deflating Bethel’s energy right from the get-go. The home run really got us all pumped up, and we were able to keep it rolling from there. She is a great hitter with a lot of power and potential for the future, so we expect big hits like that from her.”
In the same inning, the Tommies got back-to-back doubles from sophomore Megan Sitek and junior Kayla Boward. Boward drove Sitek home but was later called out on a play at the plate. In her second at bat of the inning, Wilson hit a two-RBI single to make the score 7-0.
“Jumping out to an early lead in the game is always huge,” Eischens said. “The 7-0 lead gave us confidence and momentum, and we knew that we still needed to keep the pressure on Bethel because they are such a dangerous team.”
Bethel fought back in the third inning when sophomore Rachel Gilbert hit a two-run home run off Sitzmann. With the momentum in their favor, the Royals got another run off a single from senior Stephanie Vosberg, who drove in sophomore Jess Newstrom to make the score 7-3.
“I just thought that we had to bear down on defense and stay focused,” Gregory said. “I knew that we’d come through hitting. We always hit really good, and I knew our defense would come through when we needed them to.”
In the bottom of the third inning, the Tommies once again got on the board after Dunrud hit an RBI single. After Dunrud’s RBI, both teams were held scoreless until the sixth inning when St. Thomas picked up three more runs to end the game with the eight-run rule. Gregory tallied her fifth RBI of the game on a fielder’s choice. It was the most single-game RBIs she has had all season.
“It felt really good [offensively] today,” Gregory said. “I actually didn’t even realize I had five (RBIs) until after the game. I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was just thinking that there were runners in scoring position, and I just wanted to do all I could to get them in.”
Smith shuts out Bethel in game two
After a scoreless first inning, St. Thomas picked up where it left off in the first game, scoring three runs in the second inning. All three of the Tommies’ runs resulted from senior Randi Thompson’s wild pitching. She walked two batters and hit another, all with the bases loaded.
“We took advantage of the situation, and we made sure we got our pitches,” Dunrud said. “[Thompson] might have just been thinking more long-term inning rather than just going batter by batter.”
The Tommies added to their lead in the fifth inning, scoring three runs. Marquardt hit her 16th double and her 45th RBI of the season. Both are team-highs, but after failing to get a hit in the first game, her 11-game hitting streak came to an end.
In the sixth inning, St. Thomas scored its final run of the game off another wild pitch from Thompson. Smith pitched her way out of a jam in the seventh inning for the Tommies, stranding two Royals’ batters on base. Through seven innings, Smith walked just one of the 26 batters she faced.
“Cassie came out on top right away, and she was throwing some heat,” Dunrud said. “She was ready to play today and came fired up. She just really wanted to beat Bethel, and I know since it was parents’ day and lot of the families were there, we wanted to have a good showing for them, too.”
Eischens and Dunrud also credited senior infielder Chandran Duffy’s defense as a contributing factor in the win.
“Chandran made a ton of great plays at second base,” Eischens said. “[She] kept the Bethel hitters off of the bases.”
Heading into Sunday’s double-header, Bethel had won its last seven games in a row.
“It was awesome to shut [them] out in game two,” Eischens said. “I’m sure we will see them again in the playoffs.”
The Tommies have won 18 games in a row, and they face St. Olaf (6-16, 3-5 MIAC) on the road April 19 in a doubleheader.
“They were great competition last year, so we’re definitely not going to underestimate them this year,” Dunrad said. “It’ll be a little more challenging then some of the other teams we’ve played.”
Ryan Shaver can be reached at shav7005@stthomas.edu.