Box Score

DULUTH, Minn. – It was a story of too little, too late for the Northwestern softball team in its opening game at the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament as the Eagles lost 4-3 to the University of Minnesota Morris. UNW will play again at 12 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 in an elimination game against the loser of the College of St. Scholastica and Northland College, who started their game at 4 p.m. on Friday.

Northwestern was being threatened of a no-hit day at the plate as the Eagles weren't able to connect with the bat through six innings. Trailing 4-0 on the scoreboard, UNW came alive in the seventh frame but couldn't bring enough runs home before committing three outs.

Megan Threlkeld (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville) started the seventh with a leadoff single before advancing to third base on a double by Jennifer Ankrom (New Hampton, Iowa/New Hampton). After Erin Kleinjan (Avon, Minn./Holdingford) struck out, Emily Geurkink (Baldwin, Wis./Baldwin-Woodville) walked to load the bases, setting up Colleen Feldheim (Northfield, Ill./Loyola Academy)'s double that scored two. Maddie Pierro (Andover, Minn./Legacy)'s RBI groundout brought in Geurkink from third for UNW's third run, but a pop-out ended the game with the Eagles' game-tying run 60 feet away at third.

Both of Morris' scoring plays came on home runs, with both occurring with two outs on the board. Sam Hanson homered to left field in the first inning to give the Cougars an early 2-0 advantage before Molly Olson's fifth inning home run boosted the margin to 4-0.

Lauren Silbernick (Osakis, Minn./Osakis) threw all six innings for Northwestern, allowing seven hits while taking responsibility for all four of the Cougars runs.