The Madison College softball team kept up their winning ways in the Blue Knight Crossover Tournament on March 27 & 28 by finishing the two-day tournament with a 3-1 record. All games of the tournament were held at the Irish Sport Dome in Rosemount, MN and hosted by the Dakota County Technical College (MN) Blue Knights. The team opened up Friday play with a win over the Bismarck State College (ND) Mystics, suffered a loss to the Dawson Community College (MT) Buccaneers, but had better results on Saturday. The 'Pack wrapped up the Blue Knight Crossover Tournament with big wins over the Lake Region State College (ND) Royals and the host Dakota County Technical College (MN) Blue Knights. After the 3-1 record against NJCAA DII opponents, the WolfPack softball team is now 17-7 overall.
 
In the four games in Rosemount, Madison College recorded a .362 batting average to their opponents .181 average, and bested them on the mound as well. WolfPack pitchers registered a 1.23 earned run average while opponent pitchers posted a 7.06 ERA. Going back to the offense, the 'Pack outscored their opponents 30-to-6, finished with 56 total bases to 25, put up a .596 slugging percentage, and recorded a .464 on base percentage to .244 by the other guys. Besides the stellar ERA comparison, Madison recorded 19 strikeouts compared to 12, and limited opponents to that .181 batting average.
 
Game #1 - Madison College (9) - Bismarck State College (ND) (1)
Game Recap - In the tournament opener on Friday afternoon, Madison College took the early 1-0 lead after one inning. Things remained that way until the 'Pack scored three runs in the third, one in the fourth, two in both the fifth and sixth innings. Bismarck's offense did score one run in the top half of the sixth inning, but it the WolfPack answered for the 9-1 win in six innings.
 
Stats of Note - Cheyenne Holmes led the way at the plate going 2-for-3 with three RBI and three runs scored. She also added her second home run of the season. Kayla Crump also added two hits in her 2-for-3 day. She also scored one run. Breanna Guenther scored two runs and Nicole Hoffmann recorded two RBI to finish behind Cheyenne Holmes in the two categories. Starter Jenalee Wilson went the distance and allowed one hit and one run in six innings of quality work from the mound. She also recorded a season high 11 strikeouts to improve to 4-2 on the year.
 
Game #2 - Madison College (1) - Dawson Community College (MT) (3)
Game Recap - The WolfPack suffered their only defeat in the Blue Knight Crossover Tournament as they fell to a talented Dawson team 1-3. Dawson recorded as many hits as the WolfPack, but they had three extra base hits and were aided by two Madison College fielding errors.
 
Stats of Note - Nicole Hoffmann and Brianna Smith both doubled in the game, but no one was able to record more than one hit. Brianna Smith scored the lone WolfPack run after her first inning two bagger, and Sadie Holmes added one stolen base. Starter Courtney Boss was handed the loss of six solid innings of work. Besides the six hits she allowed, Dawson was able to score three runs off of her, but only one run was earned.
 
Game #3 - Madison College (11) - Lake Region State College (ND) (2)
Game Recap - Madison College maintained their winning ways over schools from North Dakota with a 11-2 win over Lake Region State that ended after five innings. Madison College grabbed the early 2-0 lead after the first inning, Lake Region plated a run in the top of the second, but then the WolfPack answer with five runs in the bottom half of the inning. The 'Pack went on to score four more runs in the fourth, and Lake Region scored one to start the fifth inning, but the nine run differential was enough to end the game early.
 
Stats of Note - Breanna Guenther was the offensive hero for the WolfPack, as she drove in eight of Madison College's 11 runs on three home runs. Guenther went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a season high eight RBI. Guenther stroked a two-run home run in the first, recorded a grand slam in the second, and finished her day at the plate with another two-run four-bagger in the fourth inning. Paige Giese and Cheyenne Holmes both recorded two hits, and Cheyenne Holmes also scored three runs. Besides Guenther's three home runs, the WolfPack recorded three more extra base hits. Both Cheyenne Holmes and Nicole Hoffmann doubled, and Paige Giese tripled in the route. WolfPack starter Ashley Stormer used the offense to her advantage in picking up the win in five innings. She scattered six hits, allowed one earned run, and struckout five as she improved to 5-0 on the year.
 
Game #4 - Madison College (9) - Dakota County Technical College (MN) (0)
Game Recap - The WolfPack offense got off to a somewhat slow start, but finished with five runs scored in the top of the fifth inning to effectively shorten the game and win 9-0 over the tournament host Dakota County Technical College.
 
Stats of Note - Unlike the six extra base hit affair in their last game, Madison only recorded one but they did belt out nine hits in all. Both Kayla Crump and Sadie Holmes led the team with two hits, and the duo finished with nearly identical batting lines. Kayla Crump went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and one RBI, and Sadie Holmes went 2-for-2 with three runs scored. They both also added a steal as Kayla Crump recorded one and Sadie Holmes had two thefts. Kiana Smith had the only extra base hit for the 'Pack as she doubled. Jenalee Wilson picked up another win in her great five innings of work. She only surrendered two hits and one walk, while striking out two.
 
All three of Madison's wins in the Blue Knight Crossover Tournament held at the Irish Sport Dome, were either shortened to five or six innings as the WolfPack outscored teams 29-to-3 in those three games. The 17-7 WolfPack is scheduled to play Black Hawk College-Moline tomorrow afternoon, March 29 at 12:00 p.m. in Madison. Barring inclement weather, the hot-hitting WolfPack will be making their season debut at their home field.