The Tiffin University softball team dropped two games Thursday evening, falling to 12th ranked Winona State 1-0 in 9 innings, and Minnesota State Mankato 5-1.
In game one, Kimmy Reynolds was tasked with figuring out how to keep the Winona State Warriors off the base paths. The Warriors came in hitting .332 as a team and had three players with a .400 batting average or better.
Reynolds was fearless going at the Warriors with ease. She did her job, but her offense needed to get on the board. The offense struggled against the Winona starter, only collecting 6 hits in the extra inning affair.
The Dragons had their chances, putting runners on in four of the nine innings, and twice placing a runner in scoring position with one out. The best opportunity came in the 3rd inning, Payton Denman singled to leadoff the inning, then advanced to second on a slow roller to the shortstop. Kristin Prokopakis ripped a single to left field putting runners on the corners with only one down, but an infield pop-up and groundout to short ended the inning.
Meanwhile, Reynolds continued her dominance. She threw 8 1/3 innings, giving up 4 hits, an unearned run, walked 2, and struck out 5. The deciding run came in the bottom of the 9th with Reynolds still working on the hill. In extra innings, following international rules, a runner is placed at second base. With the runner aboard, the Warriors went to work, advancing the runner to third on a sacrifice bunt. The final at bat placed Reynolds against Winona's Jessica Kullmann. Kullman, hitting .315, bounced a ball past a Dragon outstretched glove to drive in the winning run.
Kimmy Reynolds took the loss on the mound for Tiffin, but gave Winona plenty of fits, holding them to a .154 (4-26) team average in the contest.
The Dragons were led at the plate by Cassandra Brown and Jena King. Brown and King were the only two Dragons to reach base twice, each collecting a hit, and Brown reaching on an error and King on a walk.
Game two pitted the Dragons against Minnesota State Mankato. Sarah Brown took the ball in game two, sticking around for 2 innings before being relieved by Kelsey Yaratch.
The Dragons offense again was baffled by the opposition, only managing 3 hits. The highlight of the game was provided by Sarah Brown at the plate, Brown blasted a ball that cleared the center field fence for a solo home run. This tied the score at 1-1.
Mankato, was right back at it in the 3rd. After Brown tied the score in the bottom of the 2nd, the Mavericks untied it with 3 runs in the 3rd to go up 4-1. This was the end of the line for Brown, as she faced three batters in the 3rd, one reaching on an error and the other two collecting singles. Kelsey Yaratch was summoned from the Dragon pen to try and stop the bleeding, but she gave up a hit that scored two runs, closing the book on Brown. Sarah went 2 innings, giving up 4 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned, and punched out 2.
Yaratch finished the game on the mound, going the final 5 innings, allowing a run on 3 hits, and struck out 2. The offense was slim to none for Tiffin. Sarah Brown, Kristin Prokopakis, and Tamara Link accounted for all three Tiffin hits.
The two losses drops Tiffin to 4-8 overall. They will be back at it tomorrow for a double header, starting at 9 am, and game two slated for a 1 pm start time.
