BLAIR n The Midland Lutheran College softball team entered Wednesday’s doubleheader at Dana College hoping to ride the momentum of six wins in the last four days.
However, the Viking offense proved to be too much as it tallied 16 runs in a 10-2, 6-0 sweep over the Lady Warriors.
The win keeps Dana (9-1) two games up in the loss column on second-place Morningside (11-3). Midland (9-5) fell to fourth in the Great Plains Athletic Conference standings.
“We told the girls that Midland is hot and a team who has all the momentum going n winning six in a row. They came into this with a lot of confidence,” Dana coach Marcy Roff said. “We told them that we’ve got to be in it from inning one until the very end... I knew (MLC) was going to give us a good ball game and they did. We executed and did what we needed to do to come away with two wins.”
Dana took advantage of some Midland errors and its potent offense came alive with seven runs in the fourth inning to take a 9-2 lead in game one. Josie Barrow, who plagued the Lady Warriors throughout the doubleheader, drove in three runs with a fourth-inning double. She then ended the game in the fifth inning with a solo home run.
“We did not make the routine plays,” Midland coach Keith Kramme said. “We didn’t make them in the first game, we didn’t make them in the second game. When we opened the door for them, they are so good offensively they can put runs up on the board real quick.”
Natalie Meduna scored Midland’s lone runs on RBI singles from Jessie Smith and Kate Schwarz in the third and fifth innings, respectively.
MLC starter Rachel Theis took the game one loss, surrendering eight runs - four earned - on eight hits. Barrow earned the win for Dana as she gave up two runs - one earned - on six hits. She also went 2-for-3 with four RBIs.
Barrow reached first base to lead off Dana’s first inning rally in game two when her pop fly into shallow right field dropped between three MLC fielders. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on Sarah Sempek’s RBI double. Sempek then scored when Dodge native Paige Brune laced a RBI single off MLC pitcher Kelly Sladek’s leg, giving the Vikings an early 2-0 lead.
Dana extended its lead to 6-0 with a four-run sixth inning.
Sladek pitched a complete-game loss for MLC. She struck out five and walked two. Dana’s Cassie Lager earned the win with a complete-game shutout. Lager struck out seven and walked one.
Midland will return to action 4 p.m. Friday in a doubleheader with Briar Cliff in Sioux City, Iowa.
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