Gophers softball sweeps Nebraska on no-hitter, two-hitter

Autumn Pease pitched a no-hitter in the first game and Amber Fiser and Ava Dueck (one inning) combined on a two-hitter in the six-inning second game as the No. 24 Gophers swept Nebraska 2-0 and 9-0 Saturday at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium in Big Ten softball. Minnesota (22-5 overall/conference) has won eight games in a row.

Neither team had a hit in the first game until Sara Kinch doubled for the Gophers to lead off the fifth against the Cornhuskers (14-13). Her pinch runner scored on an error and Natalie DenHartog followed with an RBI single. Pease struck out three, walked one and faced only 21 hitters, the minimum.

In the second game, Carlie Brandt had a two-run double in the fourth, Kinch a three-run homer in the fifth and DenHartog a three-run blast in the sixth.

Minnehaha Academy's 7-1 Chet Holmgren will make his college announcement at noon Monday on ESPN's "SportsCenter," according to a tweet by Paul Biancardi, ESPN national recruiting director.

Holmgren, who led the Redhawks to the Class 3A state title this season, is the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2021. His final list of schools: Georgetown, Gonzaga, Memphis, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina and Ohio State.

Jack Liffrig threw seven shutout innings, but so did his mound rival Cameron Weston, as the Gophers lost 4-0 to No. 25 Michigan, which scored all its run in the ninth, in Big Ten baseball at Siebert Field. Liffrig gave up only two hits and struck out eight. Ted Burton hit a two-run homer for the Wolverines (17-7) to make it 2-0. Zack Raabe had two hits for the Gophers (4-19) to raise his average to .432.

Two Gophers finished in third place at the Husker B1G Invitational in Prairie View, Texas, and moved up or moved into the program's top-10 lists in their events. Devia Brown had the third-best throw in the shot put (55 feet, 3½ inches) in Gophers history while Val Larson ran the eighth-fastest 400 (54.33 seconds).

On the men's side, Kaleb Siekmeier won the discus (180-8).

The Lynx finalized their training camp roster Saturday by signing rookies Japreece Dean, Selena Lott, Mikayla Vaughn and Alex Wittinger to contracts. They also waived guard Lexie Brown.

Dean, a guard, was drafted by Chicago in the third round in 2020 out of UCLA and waived. She played in Russia last winter. Lott, also a guard, was All-Big East last season at Marquette.

Vaughn is a former Notre Dame center, and Wittinger, from Delano, Minn., was a forward at Illinois. She played last winter in Germany.

Brown played in 50 games over two seasons for the Lynx, averaging 7.2 points.

• Senior Angus Flanagan of the Gophers men' golf team shot rounds of 70 and 71 was tied for fourth place at 141 after the first day of the Get R Done Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. Minnesota was second as a team at 573, four shots behind Michigan State.

• The Gophers women' golf team was in eighth place, 20-over par, a little over halfway through the second round of the Indiana Invitational in Bloomington when darkness halted play. Grace Curran shot an opening 3-over 75 for Minnesota and was tied for 12th at 2 over for the day through 13 holes of the second round.

• The Gophers men's tennis team will end its regular season with a home match against Iowa at noon Sunday.