April 30, 2008

Game one
Game two

OREM, Utah -- Well, how's this for going out on top?

Northern Colorado's softball team ended a strong April, a tough road trip and a historic season Wednesday night with a doubleheader sweep of Utah Valley.

A night after falling victim to the NCAA run-differential rule against BYU, the Bears exacted some revenge against the Wolverines and won 10-3 in five innings in game one before pulling out a 6-3 victory in game two at Utah Valley's MSTAR field.

With the wins, Northern Colorado finished April with a 9-6 record and its end-of-the-season Utah swing with a 5-4 mark. This year's Bears, at 16-36, also now hold the distinction as being the winningest NCAA Division I team in school history. The program's previous high for wins was 12, which was set in 2005 and 2006.

Northern Colorado and coach Jen Schunke and her staff will now turn their attention toward the offseason and replacing seniors Mackenzie Barrett, Morgan Dahlman and Abby Turner.

Barrett, who's been a leader ever since her arrival in Greeley, loomed large in her final collegiate games Wednesday. She hit two home runs and had six RBIs in the game-one victory against Utah Valley (12-32), and she scored an important insurance run in a two-run seventh inning in game two, when Dahlman doubled her home.

The Bears were never able to get their offense going against the Cougars the night before, but they made sure that didn't happen Wednesday night. They scored four runs in the top of the first inning of game one, and they scored three runs in the top of the first inning in game two.

And that's pretty much all either of Northern Colorado's starting pitchers would need to end the season with complete-game victories.

Freshman Jamie Juelfs (6-14) started in the circle in game one and struck out six in five innings. She surrendered just three hits and allowed just the two runs.

Junior Hillarie Van Otterloo (6-13), solidified her run as the Bears' top pitcher this year by going the distance in game two and striking out six. She ended the year with a 4.69 earned-run average and as the only Northern Colorado pitcher with an ERA under five.

It was a historic year for Northern Colorado softball, and judging by Schunke's team this April, some of the records set by this year's team may not last for long.

GAME NOTES:
Van Otterloo (.353) edged sophomore Jessie Schoepflin (.343) as the team's leading hitter this year after going five for six in the wins. She had two doubles in the first game, and her team-leading sixth home run came in game two... With 10 triples in her first two collegiate season, Schoepflin is already the program leader in the category... Courtney Maihi, who began to show signs of breaking out in her freshman season during Utah Valley's trip to Greeley about two weeks ago, continued her surge with a four-for-six performance Wednesday night. She ended the year with a .273 batting average and was third on the team with 20 RBIs... Junior Katelyn Landorf went four for seven in the victories and got her third home run of the year.