Gophers softball continues streak, now 17-0 on the season

Sara Groenewegen pitched a three-hitter and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly as the No. 10 Gophers beat Louisiana State 3-0 at the LSU Invitational to improve to 17-0. That's two wins better than the previous program record.

Groenewegen, who struck out nine, had a perfect game for 5⅔ innings before No. 13 LSU (16-4) got back-to-back singles. Catcher Kendyl Lindaman threw out a runner trying to steal third base for the third out. Lindaman also had a run-scoring double in the fourth inning when the Gophers took a 2-0 lead; their third run scored in the sixth on a wild pitcher.

Earlier Saturday, the Gophers beat Florida Atlantic 4-1. Lindaman hit a three-run homer and MaKenna Partain a solo shot in the third inning. Both are freshmen.

Senior Tori Finucane, a transfer from Missouri, got the win, throwing a one-hitter with eight strikeouts.

Pfarr in 197 finals

The Gophers advanced five wrestlers to the semifinals of the Big Ten wrestling championships on Saturday in Bloomington, Ind. But only one of them, Brett Pfarr, top-seeded at 197 pounds, won his match.

After trailing 2-1 at the end of first period, Pfarr rallied to beat Matt McCutcheon of Penn State 11-3.

• Freshman Mitch McKee, seeded seventh at 133. He lost to Iowa's Cory Clark 7-1. McKee (19-15) had upset Nebraska's Eric Montoya, seeded second, 11-3 in the quarterfinals.

• Tommy Thorn, seeded third at 141. He lost to Javier Gasca III of Michigan State 3-1 in overtime.

• Jake Short, seeded fourth at 157. He was pinned by Jason Nolf of Penn State at 6:09.

• Michael Kroells, seeded fourth at heavyweight. He lost 14-7 to Kyle Snyder of Ohio State.

• Gophers freshman Nick Rink took eighth in the NACAC cross-country championships in Boca Raton, Fla., to help the U.S. under-20 team win the gold medal. The Appleton, Wis., native finished the 6.5K course in 19:30.09. The U.S. team had 25 points, Mexico 31, Canada 42 and Puerto Rico 49.

• The Gophers defeated Wisconsin 7-0 in women's tennis in their Big Ten opener at the Baseline Tennis Center. The Gophers' Caroline Ryba (8-4) edged Maria Avgerinos 6-2, 4-5, 1-0 (5) at No. 1 singles.

• The Gophers men's gymnastics team finished second in a three-team meet at Ohio State. The No. 4 Buckeyes totaled 415.250 points, the Gophers 413.300 and the Ukraine national team 398.400. Minnesota's Justin Karstadt won the all-around (83.200), and three teammates placed second: Alex Wittenberg in floor exercise (14.700), Zach Liebler in vault (14.750), and Ben Winkel on parallel bars (14.500).