Almost perfect: UJ's Miska two outs from UJ history Saturday

Apr. 11—Kat Miska lives for busting lefties down and in while ahead of the count, part of a devastating pitching repertoire that's destroying batting averages and piling up strikeouts this season.

A junior in terms of NAIA eligibility, the University of Jamestown senior came two outs away from perfection Saturday facing visiting Briar Cliff University at Trapper Field. But in the way of Jimmie history stood the Chargers' Brooke Masi — a 5-foot-2 senior left-handed batter hitting .255.

Masi sawed off an 0-2 offering from Miska that dribbled fair down the third-base line and was fielded by UJ third baseman Gracie Fisher, but Masi would reach first base safely to record the Chargers' only hit of the game.

A swinging bunt, essentially, broke up what was nearly UJ softball's first perfect game.

Miska and the Jimmies won 6-0.

"I love throwing to lefties. It's fun for me," said the righty Miska, who on 0-2 went down and inside to Masi. "That was the pitch that she swung at that just happened to hit the bat and rolled two feet from the plate."

Statistically the best pitcher in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, Miska finished seven innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks in her fourth shutout and 12th complete game of 2021.

Masi (1-for-3) was one of just two Briar Cliff batters that Miska didn't strike out. The other was senior Emily Riha (0-for-1), who lined out hard to UJ's Kassi Ward at first base while pinch-hitting in the sixth.

Along with Ward's nice defensive stab, shortstop Morgan Geiszler tossed out a hustling Masi at first from across the diamond in the fourth to keep perfection alive on a warm and sunny — and no-wind-to-speak-of — afternoon in North Dakota.

"It definitely helps with your pitches working better, and it's warm so my arm was warm the whole time," said Miska, who improved to 12-1. "Just having the team behind me, too, knowing that they were so excited to be out here on a nice day, that really helped.

"We were ready to go."

Dominating from the start, Miska fanned eight of the first nine Chargers she faced and was razor-sharp throughout after issuing a season-high six walks in a 12-2 victory over visiting Dordt University on Wednesday.

Miska had total control of her five-pitch arsenal, which included a ridiculous screwball that darted away from hitters and was catching the corner for a called strike.

An unhittable pitch, and Geiszler, gazing in from short, knew it.

"Sometimes it's like, 'How do you even hit that?'" Geiszler said. "That's what's so fun to watch."

The product of West Fargo Sheyenne High School said Saturday's collectively clean defensive effort behind Miska was simply the Jimmies attempting to reciprocate Miska's effort.

"She works so hard for us, and so I want to give that back to her and I want to work hard for her, too," Geiszler said. "She's always the first one to tell me it's OK if I make an error. She's just always such a good, positive influence on the field, so having her be that supportive makes it easier for me to work for her."

Along with her untouchable screwball, Miska mixed in fastballs, changeups, curveballs, and a rise ball. She struck out seven in a row early, punching out the side in both the second and the third innings.

Briar Cliff's Alexis Westercamp, Rachele Heaton, and Callie Billings each struck out twice.

"Nothing didn't work," Miska said. "Everything felt really good today."

Miska no-hit Dickinson State on Feb. 20 — the second no-no of her career — in a 1-0 UJ win at the Presentation College Dome in Aberdeen, South Dakota, but walked a pair of batters while striking out a UJ record 18.

"She didn't pitch very well the other day and to be thinking that we wouldn't have walked anyone or given any hits away, it was pretty neat to see," said UJ softball coach Kevin Gall. "I thought we did a good job of staying focused and most everybody, I'm sure, knew what was going on.

"She's worked hard. That would've been awesome."

Geiszler led off UJ's half of the first with a double and later scored on the first of two Briar Cliff errors in the game before Ward put the Jimmies out front 2-0 in the first with an RBI double.

Briar Cliff starter Kayla Guerrero faced just three batters before being replaced by Mailee Jensen following Ward's extra-base hit.

Geiszler (2-for-3, double) drove in a run with a single in a two-run UJ second, and Sydney Prussia essentially broke the game open with a two-run home run to left in the fifth off Briar Cliff's Bella Valdez.

Following Masi's heartbreaking hit with one gone in the top of the seventh, Briar Cliff's Kylee Lukes hit into a fielder's choice and Westercamp flew out to second to end the game.

"I just go out there and do the best I can for the team. I don't really think too hard about striking people out, it just happens," Miska said. "I'm there for them. I just gotta keep going and not get too caught up on stats and stuff like that. I try to not even look at my stats."

Miska raised her GPAC lead in strikeouts to 152. She leads the league in nearly every statistical pitching category, including ERA and opposing batting average.

"I thought (UJ catcher Katie) Reisdorfer did a real nice job of calling pitches," Gall said. "We didn't throw many changeups to their batters until the fifth inning, or something like that."

Miska and the Jimmies have just four home doubleheaders remaining, beginning next Friday (April 16) hosting Concordia University.

"We've got a chance to get her back next year. We'll see how that goes with eligibility stuff," Gall said of his undisputed ace. "But people need to be aware and they need to come see her pitch."

Jimmies 6, Briar Cliff 2

Geiszler's three-run homer Wednesday facing Dordt had the Trapper Field press box buzzing three days ago.

Clearing the second fence in center field that's marked at a distance of 249 feet from home plate, some argued the ball sailed 260 or better.

Geiszler, however, was unable to weigh in on the debate Saturday.

"Honestly? I hit the ball and I ran, and I didn't even see where it went," Geiszler laughed. "I was like, 'It looks out, but I don't know? We're just running.'"

Coach Gall's lead-off hitting shortstop ran her way to a double and a triple in Saturday's 6-2 game 2 victory over the Chargers to complete the conference sweep. Geiszler batted 4-for-6 with three extra-base hits on the day, raising her team-leading batting average to an attention-grabbing .471 (49-for-104).

Jamestown leads the GPAC in batting average, swatting .362 entering the weekend.

"We're all just stringing hits along and we're kinda figuring out how everybody is adjusting to new pitchers," Geiszler said. "It's so fun to just all come together and put a lot of runs up on the board."

The Horace, North Dakota, native took over at short and at the top of the order with the departure of Mikayla Frost, who transferred to Keiser University, Florida. Needless to say, Geiszler's left-handed, middle-of-the-order bat is playing well at the top.

"I'd probably prefer to have her in the 3-hole, or something like that," Gall said. "But losing Frost last year left an opening at leadoff and (center fielder Mariah) Wick is more of a 2 hitter than a 1 hitter.

"It's just getting our best hitter up as many times as we can get her up."

UJ starting pitcher Katie Merchant worked herself out of a pair of bases-loaded jams in game 2, en route to a five-strikeout, seven-inning victory.

The Chargers scored just one run in both frames after filling the sacks with one out in the first and nobody out in the fourth. Merchant struck out Masi looking, before getting Josie Chronic to ground into a 1-2 fielder's choice and Kylee Lukes to fly out to right.

"As the season goes on, Katie's done a real nice job of pitching through those situations," Gall said. "She understands how she's going to be effective, and instead of just trying to blow it by everybody she's more pitch to contact. She's done a nice job of changing speeds the last two games and just pitching."

UJ freshman Jenna Remenar was first-pitch swinging in the third, smacking a two-run single to the right of second base. The Jimmies added three more runs in the fourth, which started with a lead-off Geiszler triple.

Prior to this season, Geiszler last batted at the top of the order in high school.

"It's working for us," Geiszler said. "Don't fix something if it's not broken."

UJ's Megan Neiles produced a two-run double in the fourth, rounding out the Jimmies' scoring. Merchant improved to 10-3 and is up to 66 strikeouts on the season.

Jamestown (25-7, 8-2 GPAC) currently sits third in the conference standings behind 14th-ranked Morningside (30-3, 8-0) and Midland (19-6, 7-1). The Jimmies have home doubleheaders against both Midland (April 17) and Morningside (May 1) on the horizon.

"Kat is the best pitcher in the league statistically and we're hitting .360 or something as a team," Gall said. "I think if we get some people hot here at the end of the year, our team's going to be pretty tough to beat."

University of Jamestown 6, Briar Cliff 0

BC 000 000 0 — 0 1 2

UJ 220 020 x — 6 6 0

Kat Miska and Katie Reisdorfer. Kayla Guerrero, Mailee Jensen (1), Bella Valdez (5) and Kennedy Andersen. W-Miska. L-Guerrero.

Highlights: J, Miska 7 IP, 1 H, 11 K, 0 BB; Morgan Geiszler 2-3, 2B, RBI, 2 R, K; Mariah Wick 0-2, 1 SB, 2 R, BB; Kassi Ward 1-2, 2B, RBI, K, Sac bunt; Sydney Prussia 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R; Santina Zito 1-3; Katie Reisdorfer 0-2, BB, K; Gracie Fisher 0-2; Jenna Remenar 0-3, K; Steph Cota 1-3, 2B, R.

BC, Josie Chronic 0-3, K; Brooke Masi 1-3; Kylee Lukes 0-3, K; Alexis Westercamp 0-3, 2K; Allie Poston 0-2, K; Kennedy Andersen 0-2 K; Rachele Heaton 0-2, 2K; Aubrey Chichurka 0-1, K; Emily Riha 0-1; Callie Billings 0-2, 2K.

Records: Jamestown 24-7, 7-2 GPAC. Briar Cliff 13-16, 2-7.

University of Jamestown 6, Briar Cliff 2

BC 100 100 0 — 2 7 1

UJ 012 300 X — 6 8 0

Mailee Jensen, Mackenna Raby (3), Grace Delay (4), Kayala Guerrero (4) and Alexis Westercamp. Katie Merchant and Megan Neiles. W-Merchant. L-Jensen.

Highlights: UJ, Merchant 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 5 SO, 4 BB; Morgan Geiszler 2-3, 2B, 3B, R, BB INT; Mariah Wick 0-3, BB, SB, R, K; Kassi Ward 1-2, 2B, BB, RBI sac fly; Sydney Prussia 0-3, BB, 2 R; Santina Zito 1-4, R

Megan Neiles 2-3, 2B, 2 RBIs, R, BB, K; Julia Byrne 0-1, K; Molly Haley 0-0, BB; Lorigan Steuben 0-1 sac bunt; Jenna Remenar 2-3, 2 RBI; Lauren Diemert 0-3, RBI.

BC, Josie Chronic 2-4, R; Kylee Lukes 1-4; Alexis Westercamp 3-4, 2B, RBI, K; Samantha MacDonald 0-2, K; Morgan Moffitt 0-1 2 BB, R; Kayla Guerrero 0-1; Mackenna Raby 0-0 BB; Mailee Jensen 0-1, K; Aubrey Chichurka 1-3, K; Kennedy Andersen 0-0, BB, RBI; Emily Riha 0-2; Alley Poston 0-1, K; Brooke Masi 0-2.

Records: Jamestown 25-7, 8-2 GPAC. Briar Cliff 13-17, 2-8.