MANKATO, Minn. – The Macalester College softball team beat Bethany Lutheran, 9-3 and lost to Luther College, 11-3 in a pair of non-conference games Sunday morning at the MSU Dome in Mankato. The Scots are now 3-1 on the season.
Against Bethany Lutheran (3-4), the Vikings scored a run in the top of the second inning, only to have Macalester tie the score in the bottom of the second, when junior
Mandy Morrical (Mount Vernon, Iowa/Mount Vernon) came home from third on a wild pitch. In the top of the third, Bethany Lutheran scored two runs to take a 3-1 lead. Again the Scots answered in the bottom of the third, with sophomore
Sophie Futchko (Prince Frederick, Md./Huntingtown) scoring on a grounder by senior
Emily Bergin (Houston, Texas/St. Thomas Episcopal School), and junior
Elsa Church (St. Louis, Mo./Kirkwood) scoring from third on a wild pitch. Then in the fourth, Macalester exploded for six runs, including a two-tun home run by senior
Jessica Katzin (Chicago, Ill./Jones College Prep), to lead 9-3. Church, Morrical and Bergin each drove in runs in the inning. Futchko, Church and Katzin had two hits apiece in the win.
Sophomore pitcher
Kaitlyn Pistorius (Parker, Colo./Legend) started and allowed three runs on seven hits in four innings. First year
Maddie Molay (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) tossed three scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and striking out four to close out the win.
Futchko led off the game against Luther (4-0) with a home run down the left field line for a 1-0 lead. The Norse responded with three runs in the bottom of the first inning, then scored five runs in the second to lead 8-1. With two out in the top of the fourth, Katzin singled home senior
Regan Brodine (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny), then scored on a single by junior
Emily Pedersen (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) to make the score 8-3 Luther. Two more runs in the bottom of the fourth put the Norse ahead, 10-3, then a run in the sixth ended the game at 11-3.
Futchko, Church and Pedersen led the Scots' bats with two hits apiece.
Macalester will play North Central University and Finlandia on Saturday, Mar. 4 at the Rochester Dome in Rochester, Minn.
