The Golden Rams of Anoka-Ramsey Community College swept the #8 ranked team in the nation, St. Cloud CTC, by scores of 11-3 & 18-10 on Tuesday, May 7. Both games were 5-inning affairs.
These two wins currently put the Golden Rams a ½ game ahead of St. Cloud CTC for 1st place in the MCAC Southern Division standings.
In game one, Anoka-Ramsey jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st on a lead-off single by Cleopatra Nystrom, she took 2nd on a sacrifice bunt by Ashley Stepaniak and then scored on a two-out single by Bailey Zenk.
The 2nd inning was huge for the Golden Rams. Anna Wagner led off with a double and scored later on a wild pitch. Emily Robinette singles to center, Nystrom and Stepaniak walk to load the bases with two-outs and Megan Iverson hits a grand slam to push the lead to 6-0 after two innings.
The Golden Rams picked up three more runs in the 4th and closed out the game with two more runs in the 5th inning. Besides her grand slam, Iverson had a double and 5 RBI's. Also, Robinette had a huge game hitting in the 8th spot going 3-3 with one run driven in.
In the circle was Zenk who only gave up four hits while picking up her 10th win of the season.
In game two, St. Cloud CTC jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after one half inning of play but the Golden Rams responded in their half of the 1st scoring nine runs.
This all happened courtesy of six hits and three walks. The Cyclones kept fighting back with the lead closed to 10-9 heading into the bottom of the 3rd inning when Nystrom leads off with a double and Zenk hits her 2nd homerun of the game stretching the lead to 12-9.
The score was 13-9 in the bottom of the 5th when Anoka-Ramsey scored five more runs on five more hits to finish off the Cyclones. Zenk led the way at the plate going 4-4 with 3 HR's, a double and 7 RBI's.
She now has 19 HR's on the year to go along with 80 RBIs.
Also adding to the team's 17 hits were Wagner getting 3 hits and Nystrom, Stepaniak, Sunny Strait and Robinette adding two hits apiece. Strait started and went three innings before giving way to Zenk who pitched the final two innings to earn the win.
Zenk is now 11-4 on the season winning nine consecutive games.
Anoka-Ramsey is now 22-15 overall and 15-3, 1st place, in the MCAC Southern Division. Next up for the Golden Rams is their final doubleheader of the season today, Wednesday May 8, at M-State Fergus Falls.