Photo by Sam Thiel SMSU’s Emily Tatur makes a catch during Game 2 of their doubleheader against MSU Moorhead on Sunday. SMSU defeated Northern State 7-2 and 3-1 on Saturday and MSU Moorhead 3-1 and 7-1 on Sunday.

MARSHALL — The Southwest Minnesota State University softball team hasn’t had many home games so far this season, but they have taken advantage when the opportunity has presented itself.

The Mustangs returned home to Mustang Field over the weekend for a pair of doubleheaders against Northern State University and MSU Moorhead and using a mix of strong pitching, resilient at-bats and stifling defensive play, SMSU earned the sweep in both matchups, defeating Northern State 7-2 and 3-1 on Saturday and MSU Moorhead 3-1 and 7-1 on Sunday. The Mustangs are now 5-1 at home this season.

SMSU coach Bailey Bouman said overall she was pleased with their efforts throughout the weekend in all aspects of the game.

“The girls did a great job,” Bouman said. “The offense did a good job of adjusting throughout the game, our pitchers did a good job of keeping us in the game and defense overall for only our third day on a dirt infield they played pretty well.”

Sunday

SMSU 3, MSU Moorhead 1 (Game 1)

SMSU 7, MSU Moorhead 1 (Game 2)

In the opener, SMSU got out to an early lead in the second inning, as Lileya Kebos drew a leadoff walk before Paige Shwaluk connected on an RBI single to make it 1-0 after two. MSU Moorhead would get a run across in the next half-inning to tie things up at 1-1, but SMSU responded a couple of innings later, with Bailey Johnson getting a double and Jillian Noel getting an RBI single to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead. SMSU then added a run in the sixth on an RBI single by Abby Russell to bring it to the 3-1 final.

Noel led SMSU with two hits and an RBI while Johnson added two hits and Russell had a hit and an RBI.

Shelby Bloemendaal earned the victory in the circle, going all seven innings while allowing one run on five hits and struck out seven.

In Game 2, the Mustangs started things strong, with Russell getting a leadoff single and Johnson drawing a walk before Noel smacked a three-run shot to right-center to give SMSU a 3-0 lead after the first inning. After a scoreless second, SMSU kept up the offense in the third frame. Emily Tatur and Johnson drew back-to-back walks before Noel plated a run on an RBI single. After a walk by Molly Bull and a wild pitch scored another run, Kebos connected on a two-run double to extend their lead to 7-0 after three.

Neither team would find scoring in the next couple of frames before MSU Moorhead got a run across in the top half of the sixth to make it 7-1, but they couldn’t get any closer as SMSU finished the sweep.

Noel led SMSU with two hits, including a home run, and four RBI while Kebos added two hits and two RBI and Russell, Morgyn Otte and Faith Lawson each had a hit.

Karlie Miller earned the victory in the circle, going five innings while allowing no runs on just three hits and struck out four. Allison Christians tossed the final two frames, giving up one run on two hits and struck out two.

Saturday

SMSU 7, Northern State 2 (Game 1)

SMSU 3, Northern State 1 (Game 2)

In the opener on Saturday, SMSU jumped out to an early lead in the second inning, as Bull drew a leadoff walk before Kebos and Patia Wolfe reached on errors to plate a run. The Mustangs weren’t done there, with Makenna Waldow and Paige Shwaluk bringing in a pair of runs on an RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly to take a 3-0 lead after two.

SMSU added to its lead in the next frame, as Johnson and Noel connected on singles before Kebos plated both runs on a single to push the advantage to 5-0 after three. After Northern State answered in the next half-inning with a run, SMSU responded in the bottom half of the fifth, as Johnson got hit by a pitch before Noel smacked a two-run home run to right to push the lead to 7-1. Northern State would get a run in the top of the sixth to make it 7-2, but couldn’t get any closer.

Noel led SMSU with two hits, including a home run, and two RBI while Johnson added two hits and Kebos and Waldow combined for two hits and three RBI.

Bloemendaal earned the victory in the circle, going six innings while allowing two runs on six hits and struck out four. Otte tossed the final frame, striking out two.

In Game 2, neither team could find scoring throughout the first four innings before Northern State scored first in the top half of the fifth. SMSU had an answer, though, as Waldow connected on a single before a Shwaluk walk and Russell single loaded the bases with no outs. Johnson then stepped up and cleared the bases with a double to give SMSU a 3-1 lead. NSU had two opportunities with runners in scoring position in the final frames, but couldn’t capitalize as SMSU held on to complete the sweep.

Russell led SMSU with two hits while Johnson added a hit and three RBI and Waldow and Shwaluk each had a hit.

Miller earned the victory in the circle, going five innings while allowing just one run on six hits and struck out three. Christians tossed the final two frames, giving up no runs on two hits and struck out two.

Up next

SMSU (15-20 overall, 7-5 NSIC) will hit the road this week, taking on Wayne State College on Tuesday at 1 and 3 p.m. before facing the University of Mary in a doubleheader on Friday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and Minot State University in a pair of games next Saturday starting at noon. Going into their next matchups, Bouman said they need to maintain their strong starts offensively and continue to play with a lot of energy as a group.

“We’ve got to keep that aggressive, gas-pedal mentality of getting out of the gate early and playing with a lot of energy,” Bouman said. “I think we play better when we have a lot of energy, so just keeping that keeping that mentality going and try and get some momentum.”