By Emily Dunn

Kristen Mainz winds up for a pitch in a game against Hamline on Tuesday. The Scots have much of their MIAC competition ahead of them. Photo by Phil Chen.

After a sunny trip to Florida for Spring Break and a gloomy beginning to their season, women’s softball split a doubleheader against Carleton in Northfield last Saturday.

After a sunny trip to Florida for Spring Break and a gloomy beginning to their season, women’s softball split a doubleheader against Carleton in Northfield last Saturday.’¨ After winning the opener 5-3, the Scots dropped the second game, 4-1.

The win was their second of the season, and their first in the MIAC. With the victory, the Scots have already equaled their MIAC win total from last year.’¨ The team hosted Hamline University on Tuesday afternoon, losing the games 10-0 and 10-4.

Even though the Scots have only two wins so far, the team is excited for the year. “Our season has a lot of potential, the returning players are very strong and the first-years add depth to the roster,” Meredith Wisniewski ’09 said.’¨ “Also, many people can play more than one position, so we can move people around to try new things out.’¨ Overall, I think that we can be competitive.”

During the game on Saturday Wisniewski started things off in the first game by getting hit by a pitch, and moved over to second on a sacrifice blunt by Kate Grundnowski ’08. Wisniewski also scored, cutting Carleton’s lead to 3-2 on a single by Kate Ziegler ’09.

In the sixth the women secured the lead as Laura Meinke ’06 reached on an error, and Nyalleng Moorosi ’06 and Marisa Raether ’08 both drew walks to load the bases. Those plays setup Kate Ayer’s ’06 two-run bases loaded single, winning the game.

“I am really proud of our team, we have truly come together and I think that as we move into our season our pre-season experience will help us reach our potential,” said Hannah Wydeven ’09.

In the second game Carleton hit two home runs in the second inning. The Knight’s pitcher, Mary Jo Long, fanned nine hitters while yielding only six hits and no walks, guaranteeing Carleton’s win.

Wydeven also pitched a strong game, only giving up five hits to the Knights. “Defense is the reason we won on Saturday, it was great to have our first conference win, especially against Carleton,” said Raether.

Looking ahead in their season, there is definitely a general feeling of optimism within the team. “We have only committed one error in our four conference games, we need to keep this up in the rest of our season. We also need to be consistent with our hitting,” Raether continued.

As the Scots gear up for their MIAC competition their next game is tomorrow at Augsburg. Mac’s sole win last year came against the Auggies in a 5-4 extra-innings game.

“Augsburg should be great competition this weekend and we are also looking forward to a challenging game against St. Thomas at the end of the season,” said Laura Meike ’06.