Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State's Ramsey Hopp (13) high-fives teammate Lexi Ingalls after Hopp scored a run during a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference softball game against Jamestown, Saturday in Marshall.

MARSHALL — Riley Kramolisch and the Southwest Minnesota State University softball team closed out their home schedule in style over the weekend. The Mustangs picked up four straight wins over their senior-day weekend, topping Northern State 7-4 and 9-0 on Friday, and Jamestown 10-0 and 17-3 on Saturday as Kramolisch inched closer to the program’s career hits record.

Each of SMSU’s last three games ended in five innings via mercy rule. The recent success brings them to 29-23 overall and 15-11 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. Now tied for sixth in the conference standings, SMSU has nearly clinched a postseason spot as it sits four games ahead of Jamestown with four games to play. The Mustangs are tied with Concordia-St. Paul for the final first-round bye.

“We struggled a little with the last few games there, but now I think with these wins and these things this weekend, we’re on the up end of it and I think that momentum’s going to be good for us to take into the conference tournament,” Kramolisch said.

Prior to this past weekend, SMSU had lost four of its last five games and hadn’t picked up a sweep since it swept Bemidji State and Minnesota Duluth on March 28 and 29.

“What I’m really proud of with our team is that you go through that hard stretch, you’re playing all those teams, playing them on the road, and you can think the sky is falling, but they really did a good job of staying together,” SMSU head coach Bailey Bouman said. “[They’ve been] staying the course, staying doing what we do, playing Mustang softball. When we came out here today and got to honor our senior and our alumni and things like that, I thought we just played a really complete four games.”

Jordyn Marsh earned the win for SMSU in three of its four games over the weekend, tossing a pair of complete-game shutouts in one game against each team, and throwing a combined four innings of scoreless relief across the other two games. Ramsey Hopp also earned a win in SMSU’s final game of the series, her first win since the Mustangs defeated Minnesota Duluth on March 29.

Kramolisch was the team’s lone senior being celebrated this weekend. She said that she was feeling a mix of sad and happy feelings heading into her final stretch of home games, but seeing her old friends, teammates and fans coming out to support the team made it much more of a happy day.

After racking up nine hits over the weekend, Kramolisch now has 222 career hits to rank third in program history. She needs one more to tie Erin Dickhausen, class of 2008’s, for second place and three more to tie Bailey Johnson, class of 2022, for the record.

Kramolisch said the record is something that she thinks about sometimes in practice in terms of being consistent with her swing, but that it’s something she tries to put aside during games so she can just focus on getting on base to put her teammates in a position to drive in runs, rather than just stacking up hits.

“She’s a Mustang in all ways. She does all the things you can ask for and more,” Bouman said of Kramolisch “She’s always been the person that puts in more work, does all the extra little things and we’re just so grateful and appreciative that she chose to be a Mustang and that she’s been here the whole time.”

SMSU closes out the regular season in North Dakota, taking on Minot State in a doubleheader on Saturday at noon and UMary in a doubleheader on Sunday at noon. From there, the Mustangs look to compete in the NSIC tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D., starting on May 6.

FRIDAY

SMSU 7, NSU 4

Locked in a 4-4 tie, SMSU surged ahead in the bottom of the fifth in its first game of the weekend. Lexi Ingalls hit a two-run single, aided by an error in center field, to give SMSU the lead and she scored on a Carley Stych single to bring the score to 7-4.

March pitched the final three innings of the game, limiting Northern State to one hit with four strikeouts. Hopp gave up four earned runs on six hits and three walks over the first four innings.

Hopp gave SMSU the game’s first runs in the top of the first with a two-run single, but Northern State scored a pair of its own in the top of the second to tie things up again.

Paris Van Dyke hit an RBI double and scored on a wild pitch in the second to put the Mustangs back on top, but Northern scored a run in the fourth and fifth to knot up the score at four runs apiece.

Van Dyke and Hopp each finished with a double and a single in the game. Kramolisch and Stych each also finished with a pair of singles, and Emma Humpal and March each reached base twice with a single and a walk.

Riley O’Connell took the loss in relief for the Wolves, giving up a pair of earned runs on three hits and a pair of walks over 3 2/3 frames. McKenzie Wanner surrendered four earned runs on nine hits and her 2 1/3-inning start.

Aliecia Jeanson and Kennedy Boyer led Northern State at the plate with a double and a single each, as well as two RBIs for Jeanson.

SMSU 9, NSU 0 (5 inn.)

Marsh’s pitching shut down the Wolves from start to finish in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader. She threw all five shutout innings, limiting the Wolves to two hits with no walks while striking out a pair of batters.

SMSU first took the lead in the third when Kramolisch doubled home Ingalls. Kramolisch was the lone Mustang with multiple hits on the day, finishing with a double, a single and two RBIs.

An inning later, the Mustangs’ bats exploded. RBI singles from Grace Anderson, Stych, Kramolisch and Van Dyke quickly helped SMSU bring its lead to five runs, and Aliza Acker reached on a fielder’s choice to make the score 6-0. Humpal capped off the rally with a three-run homer.

Northern State got a double and a single to put runners on the corners with no outs in the top of the fifth, but Marsh retired three straight batters to keep the mercy rule intact.

Aune Boben took the loss for Northern State, giving up four earned runs on four walks and a hit over 3 1/3 innings. Dessa Bryant gave up another four earned runs on four hits without getting an out, and Tess Miller gave up one more while getting two outs.

Tevan Bryant doubled for Northern State, and Madi Jones singled to account for the Wolves’ only other hits.

SATURDAY

SMSU 10, Jamestown 0 (5 inn.)

SMSU first took the lead on an RBI single from Acker in the bottom of the first, but the offense exploded for seven second-inning runs to pull away.

A Kramolisch single, a bases-loaded walk to Van Dyke and an Acker ground out each drove in a run to start the frame, and a passed ball and a wild pitch each allowed another run to score. Ingalls capped off the rally with a two-run double and an 8-0 Mustang lead.

March again threw a complete-game shutout while limiting the visitors to two hits, this time striking out four batters while walking one. She also hit a two-run single in the third for the game’s final runs.

Acker and Kramolisch each logged two hits on the game, while Northern State’s Kasydi Bennet doubled for the game’s lone extra-base hit.

Aubrey Quern took the loss for Northern State, falling to 13-5 after giving up six earned runs on three hits and a pair of walks over 1 1/3 innings. Abby Blair gave up four earned runs on four htis and four walks over 2 2/3.

SMSU 17, Jamestown 3 (5 inn.)

The weekend’s final game remained close for the first three innings, with SMSU holding a 5-3 lead heading into the fourth. Yet, they exploded for 12 fourth-inning runs to put the game to bed.

Humpal and Hopp started off the rally with an RBI single each, and Bretschneider hit a two-run double before scoring on a wild pitch to bring the score to 10-3.

The rally continued as an RBI single from Kramolisch, a wild pitch, and another three RBI singles from Acker, Humpal and Hopp gave SMSU a 12-run cushion. Jordan Bussey also grounded out to drive in Acker and Ingalls singled in Humpal to bring the score to 17-3.

Hopp got back into the win column after limiting the Jimmies to one earned run on four hits and a pair of walks over four innings. The win brings her record to 9-15 on the season. Marsh, meanwhile, went 3-up, 3-down in the fifth to close out the win.

The score was tied at 2-2 before Van Dyke hit a three-run homer to left-center field to put SMSU on top, though Jamestown answered with a run in the third.

Van Dyke finished with a game-high three RBIs on a homer, a single and a walk, and Acker logged two doubles and a single. Kramolisch also contributed a double and two singles.

Jamestown scored in the top of the first, though SMSU took the lead right back in the bottom of the frame. Kramolisch doubled and scored on a throwing error on the play to get the tying run, and Humpal grounded out as Acker scored on a throwing error on the play.