Top Performances From College Softball (5/4/19)

Minnesota

The No. 11 Gophers brought Northwestern’s 20-game winning streak to a screeching halt, thumping the No. 18 Wildcats 8-0 in five innings in Minneapolis, Minn. Junior second baseman MaKenna Partain went 2-for-3, homering and driving in three. Senior Sydney Smith and junior Amber Fiser combined on a one-hit shutout, striking out 10 Wildcats in just five innings. Leading 3-0 in the third but with Northwestern threatening with the bases loaded, the Gophers went to Fiser, who promptly struck out each of the first seven batters she saw, allowing just a lone walk in 2.2 innings.

Brooke Wilmes

The sophomore center fielder went 4-for-5 and hit a walk-off homer, sealing Mizzou’s second straight walk-off win as the Tigers rallied for a 7-6 win in eight innings over No. 19 South Carolina in Columbia, Mo. Wilmes’ second career four-hit game helped Missouri record their ninth top-25 win in less than two months, as the Tigers have overcome an 0-4 start to SEC play, moving over .500 in conference with one game to go. Redshirt senior Madi Norman was excellent in relief, coming in to face the hot Carolina bats in the fifth inning and holding the Gamecocks to just two hits over four scoreless innings for the win.

Giselle "G" Juarez

The junior lefty carried a no-hitter into the sixth, finishing with a one-hit shutout as No. 1 Oklahoma clinched their eighth straight Big 12 regular-season title with a series-opening 3-0 win over Bedlam rival No. 16 Oklahoma State in Norman, Okla. The Sooners have won 36 straight games, which continues to build on their program record and is by far the longest streak in the country. OK State fanned 13 times against Juarez, their worst total since April 28, 2018 at UCLA. Senior Caleigh Clifton and sophomore Jocelyn Alo broke a scoreless tie in the fourth with back-to-back homers.

Wichita State

The Shockers wanted no part of witnessing an opponents’ conference-clinching celebration, blasting AAC leader South Florida 10-0 in five innings. Junior Madison Perrigan, sophomore Bailee Nickerson and freshman Lauren Mills formed a wrecking crew in the heart of the Shocker lineup, combining to go 7-for-8 with three homers, seven RBIs and six runs scored. Sophomore Erin McDonald threw a complete-game shutout for the third weekend in a row, allowing just one hit, no walks, and striking out four.

Andrea Scali

The redshirt freshman threw Kent State’s first perfect game since 2017 as the Golden Flashes split a doubleheader with Bowling Green in Kent, Ohio. She came tantalizingly close to the feat on April 17, as one batter reached on an error in a 7-0 win over Robert Morris. Scali is the first Kent State pitcher to throw at least three no-hitters in one season since Emma Johnson in 2015, and her 227 strikeouts are now the ninth-best single-season total in Golden Flashes history. Senior third baseman Bailey Brownfield became just the fourth player in Golden Flashes history to record 200 career hits on her fifth-inning RBI single in the opener.

Paige Rauch

The sophomore first baseman/pitcher reached base all seven trips to the plate with a pair of homers and earned a win in the circle as Villanova split a doubleheader with reigning Big East champ DePaul in Villanova, Pa. Including a 5-2 win over Lehigh on Wednesday, The Big East leader in nearly every offensive category, Rauch has been on base in 11 consecutive plate appearances, hitting a homer in each game. She also held the Blue Demons to two runs (one earned) over 3.2 innings in the opener to earn her 12th win of the season.

Washington

The No. 7 Huskies held high-powered No. 3 Arizona to just a lone run for the second day in a row, clinching a crucial series with a 3-1 win in Tucson, Ariz. Freshman Sami Reynolds keyed the scoring for UW, dashing home from second on an infield single in the first inning and driving in the eventual winning runs with a two-run single in the fifth. Senior Taran Alvelo continued her dominance of the UA lineup, scattering eight hits and fanning 11 in a complete-game win. In five games against Arizona, Alvelo has struck out 38 batters in 24.1 innings and allowed just two earned runs, picking up four wins and a save.

Kali Sargent

The senior threw her first shutout of the season as Nevada dealt a big blow to the postseason chances of archrival UNLV with a dominant 8-0, five-inning win in Reno, Nev. It’s the third career complete-game shutout for Sargent, but the first one to come in Mountain West play. After two of the first three Rebels reached base in the top of the first, Sargent sent down the final 14 batters she saw in order. Sargent got plenty of help from the Wolf Pack offense, led by junior center fielder Sadaria McAlister, who went 3-for-3 with a double, two RBI and a stolen base.

Rachel Cid

The freshman shortstop had a career-high four hits and drove in four runs as Oregon kept their postseason hopes alive with a 9-4 win over Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. Cid’s four hits and two doubles are both new career-highs, while the four RBIs match her best. Over her last three games, she has been on base almost every time, going 8-for-10 with a homer, two doubles, six RBIs, and two walks. Fellow freshman second baseman Allee Bunker also had a pair of doubles to power the Ducks offense, going 3-for-4 and scoring three times.

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