ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Northwestern softball team grabbed two wins on the road at Crown on Tuesday afternoon. The Eagles posted a dominant 10-2 (five inning) game one win before coming from behind to secure a 5-4 game two. The sweep moves UNW to 16-14 overall and 5-5 in the UMAC. Crown falls to 10-18 on the year, 4-8 in conference action.
Game 1: Northwestern 10, Crown 2
The Eagles took an early lead, scoring on an RBI walk from
Courtney Schmidt (Spring Valley, Minn/Kingsland) to go up 1-0 after the first half inning of play. Crown tied it up in the bottom of the second, but the even score was short lived.
Northwestern put together a monstrous fourth inning, scoring five runs on seven hits.
Ellie Ronning (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria Area) jumpstarted the scoring efforts when she doubled to left center to score
Kayla Madison (North Branch, Minn./Forest Lake) and
Mindy Forcier (Watkins, Minn./Eden Valley-Watkins).
Abbie Nelson (Holdrege, Neb./Holdrege),
Courtney Schmidt (Spring Valley, Minn/Kingsland) and
Ciara Scheithauer (Rib Lake, Wis./Rib Lake) followed up with base hits of their own, bringing in three more runs.
The Eagles picked up where they left off in the top of five when they tacked on four runs.
Abbie Nelson (Holdrege, Neb./Holdrege) and
Courtney Schmidt (Spring Valley, Minn/Kingsland) both drew RBI walks before Scheithauer singled up the middle to drive in two more.
With
Lexi Kopacek (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) in the circle, the Eagles retired the side in the bottom of the fifth to end the game early with an eight run lead. Kopacek allowed just six hits in the win as she improved to 8-6 on the year.
Scheithauer led UNW at the plate, going 2-for-4 with three RBIs.
Game 2: Northwestern 5, Crown 4
It was the Storm who struck first in game two, getting two runs on the board in the bottom half of the first. They added one more in the second to extend the lead to 3-0 before the Eagles came roaring back.
Northwestern tied it up all in one inning of production. The effort was led once again by
Ellie Ronning (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria Area) who singled up the middle to bring in two.
Abbie Nelson (Holdrege, Neb./Holdrege) followed with an RBI double to center to score Ronning and make it a 3-3 ball game.
Northwestern added its fifth and final run in the top of the fifth inning when
Kayla Madison (North Branch, Minn./Forest Lake) doubled to left field to score
Mindy Forcier (Watkins, Minn./Eden Valley-Watkins).
Ronning put together a solid day at the plate, going 4-for-7 with three doubles and four RBIs. The sophomore leads the UMAC this season with 35 RBIs on the year.
Abbie Nelson (Holdrege, Neb./Holdrege) started in the circle for UNW and threw seven complete, allowing six hits and striking out three. The win marked her fourth this season.
The Eagles will return to action on Thursday, April 18 when they welcome Martin Luther to Reynolds Field. First pitch of the UMAC doubleheader is slated for 3:30 p.m.
