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The picture told a thousand words, or maybe a million. If you had to select one photo that best describes collegiate softball in the Twin Ports, it was easy to come by up at Malosky Stadium.  Yes, we know, Malosky Stadium is a football stadium, but it does have artificial turf, and the effort already had been made to clear a few tons of snow off that surface so that UMD could stage its spring football practices.
So there was the perfect photo:  UMD sophomore pitcher Cayli Sadler cranking up in her windmill fast-pitch motion and delivering a pitch to Augustana batters. In the background, there was the west-end goal post, and behind that, neatly framing Sadler as she pitched, was the nation of Greenland. Or maybe it was Anarctica. Actually, it was merely the glacier piled high from the winter that wouldn’t end, a gigantic pile just beyond that west end zone.
It was in that setting that UMD played softball last weekend. They were going to play four games, but after splitting a doubleheader with Augustana on Friday, the field needed more tending in the January-like chill of Saturday morning, and it didn’t take much coaxing for UMD and Wayne State to agree to play just one game, thank you. It was nasty, with a stiff wind, and an even stiffer pitching assortment from Wayne State junior Sara Scheffert, who blanked the Bulldogs 3-0.
An uninformed soul might have been most impressed wearing uniform No. 14 for UMD. She pitched, she made plays, she ran down hits, and she hit the ball. She seemed to be eveywhere. And with good reason. The weekend was dedicated to Mandy Matula, a former star player at UMD, who was murdered a year ago in the Twin Cities. Matula wore No. 14, so all the UMD players wore No. 14 on their backs for the “1Four Mandy” tribute, with their own numbers on the front and sleeves.
UMD wound up 18-16 overall and 4-5 in the Northern Sun, which isn’t bad considering last weekend’s games were the first true home games for the Bulldogs all season. In fact, they didn’t get on their home field last season, either, and nobody thought to improvise a makeshift field on the football’s artificial turf last year, so, just like the baseball team, all home and road games were out of town.
Sadler, who is from Maple Grove High School, was outstanding in the first game Friday, scattering three hits and getting a hit to drive in two runs in the 4-1 UMD victory over 13th rated Augustana. Freshman Angel Dahl from Cherry smacked a home run to highlight the Bulldogs victory. Augustana came back to win the second game 9-2.
In far more blustery conditions Saturday, Sadler pitched well enough, but was nicked for a home run by Monique Alyea, and a two-run blast by Sam O’Brien, while the Bulldog bats were put into “take” mode by the power and artistry of Wayne State pitcher Scheffert. Sadler tried her best, getting two of the five hits the Bulldogs got in the game, while Scheffert recorded 10 strikeouts.