Freshmen show promise in win over UW-Stout

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. -- The Northwestern College softball team found moderate success in its 2010 season-opening doubleheader on Friday morning as the Eagles split with Wisconsin-Stout. Trading places, each team won a game 8-0 in five innings.

NWC was on the losing side of Game 1. The Eagles matched their opponents in hits early in the game, but Stout was turning those hits into runs, while Northwestern struggled to bring base-runners around to home plate. The Blue Devils scored three runs in both the first and third innings, doing damage to Northwestern that couldn't be reversed before the eight-run rule came into play.

Amanda Rodgers (Monticello, Minn./Monticello) (Monticello, Minn./Monticello) went 2-2 in the game, while Alyssa Borgstrom (Amery, Wis./Amery) (Amery, Wis./Amery) and Briana Rodgers (Monticello, Minn./Monticello) (Monticello, Minn./Monticello) collected the Eagles' other two hits. Senior Ashley Olson (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) gave up seven earned runs on nine hits from the pitcher's circle.

In Game 2, Northwestern turned the tables to win 8-0. This time, the Eagles poured on the offense. A six-run second inning gave the Eagles the needed momentum to realize they were the real deal. Briana Rodgers (Monticello, Minn./Monticello), playing in her first collegiate games today, sparked Northwestern in the second with a home run that went over the left field fence. Rodgers finished the game 3-3 at the plate.

Another freshman in Kelsey Timm (Iowa Falls, Iowa/Iowa Falls-Aiden) (Iowa Falls, Iowa/Iowa Falls-Alden) had an excellent collegiate debut for the Eagles. Timm threw all five innings, giving up five hits and striking out two en route to earning a shutout and a win.

Northwestern begins the 2010 season at 1-1, and will enter next week's spring break trip to Florida with some confidence. The Eagles will play 11 games in the Sunshine State before returning home to play Augsburg College on March 27.

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