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By losing the first three games of a four-game series against Michigan, the Gophers saw their chance at the Big Ten softball championship disappear, with the Wolverines clinching the regular-season title Saturday at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.
That left the Gophers with two jobs for Sunday s finale: Give the program s five seniors a victory on Senior Day and bolster the team s argument for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
Consider both tasks accomplished.
Behind home runs by MaKenna Partain, Natalie DenHartog and Sydney Strelow in the first two innings, the 23rd-ranked Gophers beat No. 19 Michigan 7-3 in their regular-season home finale. Minnesota (26-10) banged out eight hits and chased Michigan ace Alex Storako, who gave up the three homers among her five runs along with three walks in two-plus innings. Storako (19-3) entered the game with a 0.67 ERA and left with a 0.93 mark as Michigan fell to 32-6.
Senior right-hander
Olivia Ferrell fired a three-hitter in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at No. 24 Minnesota, but the Huskers were no-hit in a 2-0 loss to the Gophers at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. Neither team produced a hit until the fifth inning, when Minnesota hit a leadoff double and a pair two-out singles to produce the game’s lone runs and the only hits of the contest. Nebraska (14-12) has lost four games to ranked opponents this season by a total of six runs. Minnesota won its seventh straight game to improve to 21-5. The Huskers had only two base runners in the game as the Gophers’ Autumn Pease (10-1) tossed her first career no-hitter and faced the minimum 21 batters. Pease did not allow a Husker to advance past first base. Ferrell (8-7) struck out four in her fifth complete game of the season.