Jenny Lemmerman, Director of Marketing and Communications, (402) 426-7216

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 29, 2008

Vikings Sweep on Senior Night

Blair, Nebraska ~ Dana softball kept its streak of five consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins alive on Tuesday night.  The Vikings won its final two regular season home games against Dordt College 9-2 and 5-4.

The Vikings capitalized on nine Defender errors in game one in route to a 9-2 win.  The first two Dana batters reached on errors in the first inning.  Paige Brune (JR, Dodge, NE) reached on an error by the Dordt third baseman.  This error allowed Maggie Downs (SR, St. Charles, IA) and TJ Beeman (SR, Grimes, IA) to score.  Christa Backus (SR, Newton, IA) reached base on another error, which allowed Brune to score.  The Vikings put two more on the board in the third inning as Brune reached again on an error.  Christa Backus reached on another error and moved Brune to second.  Both runners advanced as Kristina Cox (FR, Omaha, NE) hit a single to load the bases.  Jesse McKinney (JR, Lincoln, NE) hit a single to score Backus and Brune.  The Vikings put the game out of reach in the fifth inning with four more runs on three hits and two errors.  The big hit came from as Maggie Downs cleared the bases on a triple.  Jesse McKinney had two hits to lead the Vikings.  Cox, Downs, Lindy Bohlmann (JR, Denison, IA), and Josie Barrow (SR, Woodward, IA) all had one hit.  Cassie Lager (SR, Missouri Valley, IA) pitched a complete game six hitter to earn the win.  Lager struck-out a season high 14 batters in route to her eleventh win of the year.

Game two took on a bit of a different twist for Dana College.  The Vikings found themselves down four runs after three innings.  Coach Roff’s team did not want to let senior night end in a loss.  Dana put up two runs in the third and fourth innings to tie the game. The most exciting play of the night happened in the bottom of the seventh.  Melena Selzle (JR, Ashland, NE) led off the inning with a walk.  She stole second and moved to third on a Maggie Downs single.  Up to the plate came Josie Barrow, the two-time GPAC Player of the Year.  Barrow laid down a perfect suicide squeeze.  Selzle scored from third to give Dana the 5-4 win.  Maggie Downs led Dana with two hits.  Paige Brune and Lindy Bohlmann each had one.  Both Downs and Brune added two stolen bases apiece.  Ashley Jess (SR, Monroe, IA) pitched a complete game and notched the win.  Jess gave up four runs on six hits and struck-out ten batters.

Stats for game 1 vs. Dordt:       http://www.dana.edu/softball/stats08/dordan1.htm

Stats for game 2 vs. Dordt:       http://www.dana.edu/softball/stats08/dordan2.htm

Coach Roff’s Corner

“It was great sending the seniors out on their last home game with a sweep.  They did a nice job of just playing the game.  Now that the conference is complete, we are looking at everyone being on the same playing field.  Anyone can win the tournament this year!  It’s pretty much wide open and we need to take advantage of that and bring our A game!  We are looking forward to making a run at it!”

Dana College finished their regular season at 21-16 overall and 15-9 in conference play.  The Vikings will be the sixth seed at the GPAC Softball Tournament, which starts on Thursday, May 1 in Hastings, Nebraska.  Dana will play third seeded Morningside College at 2:00pm on Field 3 at the Smith Softball Complex.  The loser of the first game will play again at 4:00pm and the winner will play at 4:00pm against the winner of Midland Lutheran-Doane.

For more information, please contact Shad Beam, Sports Information Director at sbeam@dana.edu.