Kaylin Steinmetz opened the day by smashing her 20th home run of the season. Steinmetz set the NKU single-season home run record earlier this season against Saint Joseph's.
Game 1 box score |
Game 2 box score
RENSSELAER, Ind. – Sunday was a day of round numbers for the Northern Kentucky University softball team, which concluded the 2012 regular season with a doubleheader sweep of Great Lakes Valley Conference foe Saint Joesph's. The Norse were victorious by scores of 5-2 and 2-1.
With 50 games now in the book for the Norse, NKU boasts a 33-17 overall record and a 21-13 conference mark, having won five of their last six games and 10 of their last 12. The Norse now advance to next weekend's GLVC Tournament, to be played at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill.
NKU is locked into the 4/5 game for the GLVC Tournament and will play either Saint Joseph's or Illinois Springfield depending on the results of a makeup doubleheader between Illinois Springfield and Missouri S&T on Tuesday.
Kaylin Steinmetz rounded out her regular season in her first at-bat of Game 1, cranking her 20th home run of the season to give the Norse a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Emily Schwaeble followed suit, going back-to-back for her 10th home run of the year and fifth of the week.
Natalie Papi extended the Norse lead with a two-run single in the third inning and
Kari Lang added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly.
Schwaeble (20-5) continued her dominance in the circle, scattering six hits and striking out 11 to become NKU's first 20-game winner since Amanda Smith, who went 24-12 in 2006.
The Norse needed to stage a comeback in Game 2, as an error in the second inning allowed the Pumas (34-17, 22-12 GLVC) to plate an early run. That comeback came in the fourth inning when
Mandi McQueen led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on Lang's single later in the inning.
The Norse drew level on a squeeze bunt by
Dee Dee Davis to plate McQueen.
Taylor Zuberer then stepped up to give the Norse the lead with her first double of the season to score Lang.
Alex Caudill (13-10) got into a jam in the circle in the seventh after a leadoff double, a walk and a sacrifice put the tying and winning runs in scoring position. The freshman bore down though and got back-to-back groundouts to end the game. Caudill allowed just four hits in the game and collected five strikeouts.
