May 16, 2009

Courtesy of Winona State Athletics

WINONA, MN – No. 6-ranked Winona State University (49-11) hit and pitched its way into the NCAA Division II World Series with an 8-0, five-inning, win over Mesa State College, CO (30-21) in Game Two of the best-of-three series to the Super Region Three Tournament held at WSU Alumni Field.

The win, the 14th straight for the Warriors, now sends Winona State to it first ever appearance in the Division II World Series, May 21-25 in Salem, VA.

Sophomore, Stacey Struzynski tossed a no-hitter and used a three-home run, four-run fifth inning, to the best of her advantage, as she finished the game with three walks and eight strikeouts and did not allow a ball to get out of the infield.

Mesa State, the No. 7 seed in the region tournament, did pose a couple threats against Sturzynski. In the bottom of the first the Mavericks got a leadoff walk and moved the runner to third, after a stolen base and sacrifice bunt, with one out, but Struzynski got the next batter on a called third strike the third out of the inning on a popup to second.

In the second inning Mesa State again got a runner to third. This time with two outs before Struzynski corralled a bouncer back to her and turned it into the third out of the frame.

The only other runner to reach for Mesa State came on a walk to lead off the fourth, but Struzynski retired the next six batters in a row after that.

While all that was going on the Warriors, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, made use of three unearned runs, two in the first inning and one in the fourth, for a 3-0 lead and then exploded for three runs in the fifth. Terra Halron led off with a double and Annie Stuedemann followed with a shot to leftfield for a 5-0 WSU lead. MSC then switched pitchers, but it did make any difference as Amanda Wilhelm greeted the new hurler and circled the bases with a blast to centerfield. From there WSU completed the inning  with a walk, and two outs later, Callie Givens hit a line drive to leftfield that bounced off the top and over the fence for a two-run home run.