SIOUX CENTER, Iowa - No. 11 Madonna Crusaders Softball team faced off in their second and eventual third game of the first round of the NAIA National Tournament. In their first game of the day they would face off against the host team and number one seed of the pool No. 9 Northwestern College. The Crusaders would fall to the Raiders 2-3. This would take them to the losers bracket for game two where the would face off against RV Bellevue University. The Crusaders would take the win 7-1. With the win, the Crusaders will face off with No. 9 Northwestern College again where they will need to win two games to make it to the final site. The win also puts this Crusader team in the history books with the highest winning percentage in program history at 50-4. The 50 win season also puts them as one of the only teams to achieve 50 wins in a season with the last one coming in 2009.   

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Game 1:

Maeson Schlaud started on the mound for the Crusaders with Northwestern being one of the few teams to figure her out. Schlaud still had a dominant performance on the mound going every inning giving up only five hits with six strikeouts on 96 pitches. The Crusaders offense was still able to pile up the hits but were unable to get runs across the plate as they outhit the Raiders 8-5. The Crusaders would tie the game up at one a piece in the 3rd inning after a sacrifice fly from Jessica Dunkel. The Raiders would take back a one run lead in the bottom of the third but in the top of the 4th Emily Biggott would get a big solo home run to tie the game back up at two a piece. The Raiders would again take the lead back in the 5th to take a 3-2 lead. The Crusaders would have chances to tie the game back up especially in the 7th where they had a runner on second with two outs but were unable to get the run in and would fall to the Raiders 2-3. 


INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 

• Mackenzie Ming would go 2-3 with two singles.
• Regan Finkbeiner would go 2-4 with two singles.
• Bailey Martin would go 1-2 with a double and a walk.

Game 2:

In game 2 Schlaud would return to the mound with an outstanding performance to help the Crusaders pick up the win. She again would go the full game giving up only four hits with eight strikeouts on 98 pitches. On the day Schlaud would throw 194 pitches with 14 strikeouts. This win also improved her record to 33-3. The Crusader bats were even hotter in game two while also doing much better at turning those hits into runs. The Crusaders jumped out early in the bottom of the first picking up three runs starting with an Ashley Rosiewicz triple that would bring Alissa Gauthier and Finkbeiner home followed by a Ming sacrifice fly to bring home Rosiewicz. The Crusaders would pick up another run in the 2nd on a Faith Peschke sacrifice fly to make it a 3-0 game after two. The Bruins would pick up one run in the 5th inning but the Crusaders would not let them get any closer, bringing across three more runs in the bottom of the 6th off an Ella Thomas single that would bring across pinch runner Amanda Strong, followed by a Peschke triple that would bring home Thomas which was then capped by a Gauthier double to bring home Peschke and the 7-1 victory to advance the Crusaders to the final games and a chance to make it to the final site and World Series. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 

• Gauthier would go 2-4 with two doubles and an RBI.
• Thomas would go 2-3 with two single and an RBI.
• Rosiewicz would go 1-3 with a triple and two RBI's.
• Peschke would go 1-2 with a triple and two RBI's.

UP NEXT

The Crusaders will be back in action tomorrow to face off with No. 9 Northwestern College again where they will need two wins to make it to the final site. First pitch for game one is set for 1:00 PM. 

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