Softball

Minnesota softball will play on their home turf today — literally.

University of Minnesota softball co-head coach Lisa Bernstein’s goal was for the Gophers to go 5-0 at the Louisville Slugger Tournament this past weekend in Tampa, Fla.
While Minnesota fell a bit short with a 3-2 record to start the 2009 season, Bernstein and her players’ only complaint after leaving on Sunday may have been the sunburn they received from the sunny Florida weather.
“Everyone was a little sunburned, but it felt good to get a few wins,” Bernstein said.

For the Minnesota women’s softball team, fielding ground balls on an indoor surface and catching pop-flies caroming off the ceiling just isn’t the same as playing on real dirt with a sunny blue sky.
But the Gophers have still made due this winter during their practice times in the Cook Field House and Bierman Football Complex.
Minnesota will see if its hard work and patience over the cold winter is going pay off this weekend, as the team competes in the Louisville Slugger Tournament in sunny Tampa, Fla.

For the Minnesota women’s softball team, fielding ground balls on an indoor surface and catching pop-flies caroming off the ceiling just isn’t the same as playing on real dirt with a sunny blue sky.
But the Gophers have still made due this winter during their practice times in the Cook Field House and Bierman Football Complex.
Minnesota’s will see if its hard-work and patience over the cold winter is going pay off this weekend as the team competes in the Louisville Slugger Tournament in sunny Tampa, Fla.

The University of Minnesota women’s softball team steps onto the field this weekend in the annual Fall Invitational.
The Gophers, following a 29-16 season last spring, will play four games at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium this weekend with three first-years on the roster.
The scheduled opponents on Saturday are St. Cloud at 10 a.m. and Minnesota-Duluth at noon, and on Sunday are North Dakota State at 10 a.m. and Concordia University at noon.

Losing more than half of a starting lineup can cause most teams to struggle, but coach Julie Standering said that the Minnesota softball team won't be having those problems this year.

However, the Gophers did lose a big chunk of their lineup through departing seniors, and as the season begins, they have quite the task to patch up a gaping hole left in the middle of the order.

Heading into the Jacksonville tournament, the Minnesota softball team is facing plenty of uncertainties.

With three infield positions to fill, the Gophers started a four-day, six-game tournament Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla., against the host team, the Dolphins.

But Minnesota's trip is going to be less about the games and more about the experience for a somewhat young team, coach Julie Standering said.

Last season, the Minnesota women's softball team struggled through the cold weather in its second tournament of the year, facing 30-degree temperatures in Oklahoma.

The Gophers won't have to worry about temperatures this time around.

Minnesota will instead enjoy playing within the friendly confines of the Metrodome this weekend, playing five games in "beautiful 72-degree weather," as coach Lisa Bernstein called it, from Thursday through Sunday.

A pair of complete-game wins from the one-two-punch of junior pitchers Katie Dalen and Brianna Hassett propelled the Minnesota softball team to a 2-0 start in this weekend's Metrodome Classic.

The Gophers picked up an 8-2 win over Western Illinois in the early evening before shutting out Tennessee Tech 7-0 in the second game of the night.

Hassett and Dalen combined for 14 innings of work while striking out 21 - performances co-head coach Lisa Bernstein would like to see last all season.

For a somewhat inexperienced Minnesota softball team, the weekend could not have gone better.

The Gophers either won or were an at-bat away from a win in each of the five games played at the Metrodome tournament this weekend, following up their two wins Thursday with a win over Drake and two close losses to Northern Iowa and Arkansas.

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georgia southern tournament

what: Softball

when: Time TBA, Friday