Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

MARSHALL, Minn. - Amanda Johnson notched two wins on the day as the Southwest Minnesota State softball team defeated No. 23 Minnesota State, Mankato 5-1 and 4-3 Thursday afternoon in Marshall.  The Mustangs now have sole possession of first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

Amanda Burkhart's double in game one of the twinbill moved the senior into first place in career doubles at SMSU with 40.

SMSU is now 20-16 (12-2 NSIC), while MSU drops to 28-10 (9-5 NSIC).

Johnson controlled the tempo early for SMSU in game one, allowing just one hit and no runs through four innings.

SMSU's offense was scoreless through three innings, but in the fourth the Mustangs exploded and put four on the board.  Christine Borowiak led off, starting the surge with a double to center field.  Burkhart followed cue with a single, and Amanda Tucci immediately tacked on a single for herself to score Borowiak.  Nicole Kelley was hit by a pitch to juice the bases for Amanda Voss.  The freshman managed a sacrifice fly to score Burkhart from third.  Two batters later Andrea Fennern stepped to the plate and crushed a triple to right field that scored Kelley and Tucci.  The Mustangs finished the inning with a 4-0 advantage.

SMSU stretched its lead to 5-0 in the sixth inning after Voss singled and was replaced on base by Micki Seibring.  MSU's Kendra Huettl tossed a wild pitch to advance Seibring to second before Fennern unleashed another big hit--this one a double--to score Seibring.

The Mavericks manged just a run in the top of the seventh.

Fennern finished 2 for 3 with three RBIs.  Burkhart was 2 for 2 at the dish.

Johnson tossed a complete game and allowed four hits.  She struck out eight.

Ali Honken took the circle for game two, looking to pick up her fourth straight win and second straight shutout.  The Mavericks, however, quickly stifled a Honken shutout, taking advantage of wild pitch to put a run on the board and go up 1-0 in the top of the first.

SMSU answered in the bottom half of the inning when Tucci drew a walk with the bases loaded to score Jessica Paczosa, who had made her way to base on a bunt.

The momentum leaned in the home team's favor as the Mustangs poured in three runs in the ensuing inning.  Kristin Braden drove in the first SMSU run of the inning, singling to left field to score a pinch-running Seibring from second base.  Borowiak hit in the final two runs of the inning for the Mustangs when she sent a ball deep for a triple and scored Braden and Meaghan Laetsch, who had bunted to reach earlier in the inning.

Boasting a somewhat comfortable 4-1 lead, SMSU gave up a pair of two-out runs in the top of the fourth.  In hopes of calming a Maverick comeback, Sara Silke came in to pitch for SMSU.  She gave up a walk to load the bases and was quickly replaced by Johnson.  The senior needed just three pitches to get the Mustangs out of the inning.

Johnson was solid thereafter, allowing just two hits and not allowing another Maverick run to pick up her second win of the day.  She worked 3.1 innings and struck out three.

Braden, Borowiak and Burkhart each had three hits for SMSU; Borowiak led with three RBIs.

SMSU will travel to Crookston, Minn., this weekend to play  Minnesota, Crookston on Saturday at 12 p.m. and Minnesota State Moorhead on Sunday at 12 p.m.  The SMSU-MSUM game was originally scheduled to be in Moorhead, Minn., but flooding in the Red River Valley has forced the relocation of the game to Crookston.