St. Paul, Minn. –– The University of Northwestern softball team (5-15) walked-off twice against Northland College (6-10) on Thursday evening. The Eagles won game one 7-6 and game two 3-2.

Game One
The Lumberjills jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to four straight two-out hits. Northwestern had its first scoring chance in the third as Hailey Hansen (Elbow Lake, Minn./West Central Area) was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. Brooke Koelln (Dassel, Minn./Dassel-Cokato) dropped down a bunt and both base runners were safe. Briggs Carlson (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) followed with her own bunt to move the two runners up a base. The two runners were stranded, but that did not happen in the fourth.

Telma Roesler (Hastings, Minn./Crown College) led off with a single to right field, and she advanced to second on Hannah Woodworth's (Panora, Iowa/Panorama) walk. Kayla Hannasch (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) followed with her first career homerun, at any level, to tie the game at three. The Eagles weren't done as Shelby Stoll (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) followed with a single to left and then stole second. She came around to score on Carlson's single back up the middle to give UNW the lead.

Ellie Ronning (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria Area) and Roesler led off the fifth with singles, and both runners advanced on Woodworth's sacrifice bunt. Hannasch walked to load the bases before Stoll walked to bring in Ronning to extend the lead to two. The Eagles looked to add on in the sixth, but they stranded the bases loaded.

Northland recorded three runs in the top of the seventh to take a 6-5 lead after three straight hits to start the frame. The Eagles fought back in the bottom half as Stoll reached via an error and advanced to second on a walk. Koelln walked to load the bases, and Briggs Carlson (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) followed with a two-run single to left-center to end game one.

Northwestern recorded nine hits as Kayla Hannasch (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) led the offense with her three-run homerun and she drew a walk. Briggs Carlson (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) reached three times and recorded three RBIs. Ronning, Roesler, Woodworth, and Stoll all reached twice. Samantha Burkhart (Salix, Iowa/Westwood) got the start in the circle, and she threw the first three innings. Diana Boyce (Phoenix, Ariz./Park City) came in and recorded her first win of the season thanks to her four innings of relief work. 

Game Two

The Eagles jumped out to an early lead in the first after Briggs Carlson (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) and Courtney Schmidt (Spring Valley, Minn/Kingsland) started the frame off with singles. Hannah Woodworth (Panora, Iowa/Panorama) drove in Carlson with a two-out single to make it 1-0. The Lumberjills tied it in the third and took a 2-1 lead in the fifth.

The Eagles had a runner on in every inning, but they were unable to cash in until the seventh as Courtney Schmidt (Spring Valley, Minn/Kingsland) led off with a walk. Ellie Ronning (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria Area) singled to right to move the tying run into scoring position with no outs. Telma Roesler (Hastings, Minn./Crown College) crushed a double to left-center that brought home Schmidt to tie the score. Kayla Hannasch (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) continued her great day at the plate as she singled to right to walk off the Lumberjills for the second time.

The Eagles had twelve hits in game two. Carlson, Schmidt, Ronning, Roesler, and Hannasch all reached twice in the contest. Briggs Carlson (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) shut down the Lumberjill offense with her seven strong innings in the circle. She scattered six hits and struck out three as she recorded her second win of the season.

Up Next:

The Eagles open up its conference season with a doubleheader against Martin Luther College on Thursday, April 1st at Reynolds Field. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 3:30 pm.

Follow Northwestern softball online at www.unweagles.com or on Instagram @unwsoftball.