DE PERE, Wis. – Grinnell College's softball team gave Midwest Conference regular-season champ St. Norbert College all it could handle Saturday afternoon as a Pioneer star became the program's career hits leader.
Despite going toe-to-toe with the Green Knights, the Pioneers lost a 3-2 decision in eight innings in the opener of the doubleheader. St. Norbert also won the second game 9-0 to claim the MWC title outright and complete league play for both teams.
Kayla Morrissey '18 had four hits on the day to push her career total to 139, which tops Grinnell's all-time list.
Grinnell had nine hits in the opener, with four players collecting two each with Morrissey,
Sage Juveland '17,
Andi Leff '18 and
Melissa Anderson '18.
Grinnell opened the scoring in the first inning when
Mikyla Murphy's '19 groundout to second base plated Juveland.
St. Norbert scored solo runs in the first and fifth innings for a 2-1 lead, but Grinnell tied it in the sixth when Leff's single scored Morrissey.
The Pioneers had a runner reach second base in both the seventh and eighth innings but couldn't convert that into runs. The Green Knights scored in the bottom of the eighth to secure the win.
Remus was the pitcher of record and struck out two.
Morrissey had two hits in the second game for the Pioneers, who were hurt by three errors.
St. Norbert scored twice in the second inning, again in the third, twice in the fourth and four times in the sixth.
Anderson was the pitcher of record for the Pioneers, who finish MWC play at 7-11 and are 11-21 overall. St. Norbert improved to 15-3 in the league and 18-14 in all games.
Anderson moved into fourth on Grinnell's innings pitched career list with 368-2/3, while Remus is now eighth with 260.
Morrissey climbed up in several categories on Grinnell's season-best list. Her 16 walks are third-best for the Pioneers, at-bats and runs of 113 and 25 each rank fourth and 41 hits rank fifth.
As a team, Grinnell's season totals in four categories rank among program bests. Those categories include putouts (fourth with 653), at-bats (fifth with 881), assists (fifth with 307) and RBIs (sixth with 103).
Grinnell was slated to host MacMurray in a season-finale doubleheader Sunday, but those games were postponed due to wet grounds.
