Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Saturday, April 26, 2008
College roundup: Strang's no-hitter sparks Warriors
WAYNE, Neb. — In his eight years at Winona State University, Warriors softball coach Greg Jones said it’s never happened.
Until Sunday.
Courtney Strang pitched the second WSU no-hitter in as many days to lead the Warriors past UM-Crookston 9-0 and to a 7-0 sweep of the first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference crossover.
Strang, a freshman, struck out 13 of the 17 batters she faced over the five-inning win. Her performance came a day after WSU freshman Stacy Struzynski threw a no-hitter against Northern State, and shortly after WSU senior Kristen Fossell allowed just five hits over a complete-game 9-1 win over Mary (N.D.) earlier Sunday.
“Our lineage of pitchers has been very, very good in my eight years here, and we’ve never seen back-to-back no-hitters,” Jones said. “Courtney was in complete control the whole game.”
While Strang didn’t need much run support, the WSU offense put up three runs over five pitches, as Chelsea Rosenow, Mollie Bjelland and Amanda Wilhelm led off the bottom of the first inning with back-to-back-to-back home runs.
Bjelland went 4-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs, and Laura Wright went 3-for-6 with a home run and three RBIs over the two-game sweep.
Golf
Upper Iowa Invitational
AMANA, Iowa — Brady Strangstalien shot a 9-over 154 to place third individually and lead the Winona State University men’s golf team to a fourth-place finish.
The Warriors, who won their fifth consecutive NSIC title in October, finished the two-day tournament with a 634 — eight shots behind tournament champion Minnesota State-Mankato.
Ryan Peavey (157) placed ninth, Keegan Drugan (160), placed 13th, and Kevin Loeffler and John Anderson (163) finished in a tie for 20th for WSU.
Megan Placko shot an 89 on the final day of the two-round tournament to lead the WSU women’s golf team to a seventh-place finish.
The Warriors finished with a 776 — 90 strokes behind first-place Truman State.
Tennis
The St. Mary’s University men’s and women’s tennis teams each ended three-match losing streaks with wins over Wartburg (Iowa).
The SMU men earned five straight-set singles victories from Walter Mannino (6-2, 7-6 (7-4)), Pawel Szczepkowski (6-2, 6-0), Steve Clements (6-2, 6-3), Andy Weigman (6-4, 7-6 (7-3)) and Justin Loeffler
(6-1, 6-1) en route to a 6-0 win.
Kayla Lenz (7-6 (7-2), 6-3) and Aubrey Hirsch
(7-5, 5-7, 11-9) each recorded singles victories before earning an 8-5 win in No. 1 doubles to lead the SMU women’s team to a 7-2 victory.
All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 Winona Daily News and other attributed sources.