ASHLAND, Wis. -- The Northwestern College softball team took to Hodgins Park for four games on Friday and Saturday at the UMAC Crossover Tournament. The Eagles returned home with a 3-1 record from the weekend, solidifying their place in next weekend's UMAC Postseason Tournament along the way.

NWC's only loss of the two-day tournament came right away to the University of Minnesota Morris, who the Eagles split a doubleheader against at Reynolds Field a couple weeks ago. The Cougars were in the driver's seat throughout most of the game until the sixth inning, when Northwestern scored six runs to threaten Morris' one-time 6-1 advantage. All 10 of the Eagles' hits in the game went for singles while NWC left eight runners on base. Kelsey Timm (Iowa Falls, Iowa/Iowa Falls-Aiden) pitched all six innings for Northwestern, giving up six earned runs on 11 hits, striking out four.

The Eagles rebounded for a 4-0 win over Presentation College in their second game of Frisday's action. Pitcher Molly Johnsen (Floodwood, Minn./Floodwood) had a no-hitter going through five innings before giving up her lone hit of the game to Presentation's Kelli Boeckelhide in the sixth frame. Johnson finished with 10 strikeouts while the Eagles out-hit posted 10 hits of their own. Briana Rodgers (Monticello, Minn./Monticello), Erin Kleinjan (Avon, Minn./Holdingford) and Ali Witthus (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) each finished the game with two hits, while Witthus had Northwestern's two RBI for the game, one on each of her hits.

Saturday was a much better day for Northwestern as the Purple and Gold outscored its opponents by a combined score of 23-3. The Eagles entered the day fighting for the last spot in the conference tournament with Bethany Lutheran College, NWC's first opponent on Friday. Northwestern left the game not only with a convincing win, but a justified reason to earn its berth into the UMAC postseason, winning 13-1. Timm had a much better outing than her performance against Morris on Friday, allowing just one earned run on seven hits. Kristin Sigurdsen (Barron, Wis./Barron) and Rodgers had an awesome game at the plate with both collecting three hits. Sigurdsen added an RBI and four runs scored in three at-bats, while Rodgers turned in four RBI and two runs.

NWC's second game of Saturday resulted in a similar score as the Eagles defeated Martin Luther College 10-2. Northwestern's 18 hits in the game were a season high and the contest didn't even go a full seven innings as the Eagles reached the eight-run rule in the bottom of the sixth inning. Kleinjan homered twice against the Knights, with Rodgers also picking up a four-baser as NWC had the bats rolling. Kleinjan's line finished 2-4 with four RBI and two runs scored. Rodgers' looked similar as the junior went 3-4 with three RBI. Johnsen was almost equally efficient in the pitcher's circle with two earned runs and four strikeouts.

Now 18-20 on the year and 13-8 in UMAC action, the Eagles will return home for a nonconference doubleheader next Wednesday before heading back north to Duluth for the UMAC Tournament. Northwestern will host St. Catherine at Reynolds Field on Wednesday with a 4 p.m. first pitch scheduled.