NWC-St. Scholastica Box Score
NWC-Northland Box Score

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. -- After weather pushed Tuesday's split doubleheader back a day, the Northwestern College softball team faced the College of St. Scholastica and Northland College in the Irish Dome on Wednesday.  The Eagles squandered a three-run lead in the seventh inning against the Saints to lose 10-9 before regaining their momentum with a 2-1 victory over the LumberJills.

In Game 1, every inning featured long innings with multiple at-bats in each team's opportunity at the plate.  St. Scholastica opened with a three-run first frame before Northwestern responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning when Kristin Sigurdsen (Barron, Wis./Barron) (Barron, Wis./Barron) homered to left field, scoring herself and Leighana Nyquist (Cokato, Minn./Dassel-Cokato) (Dassel, Minn./Dassel-Cokato).  The Eagles took the lead with three more runs in the second inning, hitting balls back into play as hard as Brittany Johnson (Long Prairie, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle) was throwing them from the pitcher's rubber.

After the Saints came back with a two-run third inning, NWC tied the score when Brittany Anderson (Amery, Wis./Amery) (Amery, Wis./Amery) scored on a suicide squeeze bunt from Alyssa Borgstrom (Amery, Wis./Amery) (Amery, Wis./Amery).  The Eagles gained the lead and headed into the seventh inning with a three-run edge.  Erin Wankerl (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) contributed to those runs with her first collegiate home run that went over the right field fence in the bottom of the sixth.

The three-run buffer proved to not be enough, as St. Scholastica had a mega seventh inning.  The Saints led off the frame with back-to-back hits before Theresa Tauer launched a three-run home run to give her team a one-run lead that stuck.

Ashley Olson (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) took the loss after allowing seven earned runs.  The senior struck out four while allowing 13 hits in seven innings pitched in a game that lasted well over two hours in length.  Briana Rodgers (Monticello, Minn./Monticello) (Monticello, Minn./Monticello) and Ali Witthus (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) each had three hits in the game while Sigurdsen tallied three RBI on the day.

Northwestern had better success against Northland in the second game of the day, holding on to a one-run lead to finish with a 2-1 victory.  Both of the Eagles' runs came in the second inning when Borgstrom doubled to left, scoring Anna Schurch (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) (Lakeville, Minn./North) and Erin Kleinjan (Avon, Minn./Holdingford) (Avon, Minn./Holdingford).

Northland's lone run came in the seventh inning when Ashleigh Miller homered to center field off of NWC's Kelsey Timm (Iowa Falls, Iowa/Iowa Falls-Aiden) (Iowa Falls, Iowa/Iowa Falls-Aiden).  Timm struck out the final two batters though, earning her team a victory while pocketing a save for herself.  Schurch threw the first six innings for Northwestern, yielding just three hits to the 21 batters she faced.

The Eagles had several more base runners than their run total showed as NWC left 12 on base.  Borgstrom and Schurch each contributed two hits to Northwestern's total of eight.  Borgstrom tallied two RBI for the second stright game.

At the day's end, NWC remains at .500 with a 16-16 overall record and an 11-6 mark in UMAC play.  This weekend's UMAC Crossover Tournament will be very important as the Eagles play four different league teams and jockey for position for the conference's postseason tournament on May 6-7.