Despite "the winter that will never end" weather, the #7 ranked Anoka-Ramsey Community College Softball team was able to play inside the Rochester bubble last weekend and came away with a perfect 4-0 record to open up MCAC Southern Division play.
On Friday, April 6, the Golden Rams played Riverland and came away with a 12-3 five-inning win in game one and a 20-2 five-inning win in game two.
Game one saw the Golden Rams jump out to an early 3-0 lead only to see the Blue Devils answer with three runs of their own. The game stayed tied until the 3rd inning when Anoka-Ramsey put five runs on the board. The inning was highlighted by Emily Robinette's 3-run homerun that followed three consecutive doubles.
The Golden Rams tacked on four more runs the next two innings to close out Riverland in 5-innings. The team racked up 16 hits with every starter getting at least one hit. Ashley Stepaniak led the way for ARCC as she was a perfect 3-3 with two doubles and 5 RBI's. Lindsey Swanson picked up her 7th win of the season.
Game two of the doubleheader was all Anoka-Ramsey from the get go.
The Golden Rams scored at least one run every inning paced by a season high of 21 hits. Every player had at least one hit in the game, with multiple players getting at least two hits and four players getting three hits apiece. They were Breanna Stang, Lindsey Swanson, Ashley Stepaniak and Emily Robinette.
This game also saw three homeruns hit by Cleopatra Nystrom, Swanson and Stepaniak. Knocking in a majority of the runs for Anoka-Ramsey were Swanson with 6 RBI's and Robinette with 5 RBI's. Getting her 5th win of the season in the circle was Bailey Zenk.
Saturday, April 7th, had the Golden Rams taking on the Yellow Jackets from Rochester CTC with both games being finished in five-innings by the identical score of 18-0.
Lindsey Swanson pitched the shut-out while striking out seven and walking no one. This was one of Lindsey's best pitched games of the season to date.
Offensively again, Anoka-Ramsey dominated at the dish collecting 18 hits. Swanson had another big game at the plate collecting 3 hits, hitting 2 homeruns and driving in 5 runs. Mickey Guenther and Emily Robinette also had 3 hits each. Also hitting homeruns for the Golden Rams were Cleopatra Nystrom and Bailey Zenk (who also had 4 RBI's).
The back end of the twin bill was another very successful all-around game for Anoka-Ramsey. Defensively, the team committed zero errors. The pitching was again stellar as Bailey Zenk threw the shut-out only allowing four hits while striking out five.
This time the Golden Rams pounded out 19 hits to score the 18 runs. Summer Bond was the constant hitting machine she has been all season collecting 3 hits, driving in 5 runs and hitting her 1st towering homerun of the year. Three other Golden Rams contributed three hits each as well; Mickey Guenther, Bailey Zenk and Lindsey Swanson.
This four game sweep of the weekend enabled the #7 ranked Golden Rams to stretch their winning streak to nine games.
Anoka-Ramsey is now 15-8 overall and 4-0 in the MCAC Southern Division. The team is scheduled for four more games this week, but its looking like "the winter that won't end", will win again.