Duluth, Minn. –– The No. 3 seeded University of Northwestern softball team (16-21) defeated the No. 2 seeded Bethany Lutheran College (19-16) 5-2 in the teams' first game of the UMAC tournament. The Eagles will next play the winner of St. Scholastica and Wisconsin-Superior at noon on Friday, May 14th. Northwestern extended its conference tournament winning streak to eight games thanks to running the table in the last two tournaments.
Briggs Carlson (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) led off the top of the first with her first of four hits. The junior also started in the circle and threw a complete game. Courtney Schmidt (Spring Valley, Minn/Kingsland) sacrificed her to second, but Carlson was left stranded. The Vikings took the early lead in the bottom of the frame, scoring on a wild pitch after a one-out triple.
The Northwestern offense broke through in the top of the third. Carlson hit a one-out double down the left-field line before Ellie Ronning (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria Area) set the single-season hits record with an RBI single back up the middle to tie the score. She ended the day with 63 hits, passing Megan Threlkeld's (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville) 62 in 2015. Telma Roesler (Hastings, Minn./Crown College) followed with an RBI double to right, bringing Ronning around to score to give Northwestern the lead for good.
The Eagles got started again in the fifth, thanks to another one-out single by Carlson. Schmidt hit an RBI double that landed fair down the left-field line as Carlson hustled all the way around from first. Schmidt advanced to third on a passed ball and scored when Ronning reached on an error to extend the lead to 4-1.
Bethany Lutheran got one back in the bottom half of the frame on a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to two. Northwestern added a key insurance run in the top of the 7th when Carlson recorded her fourth hit of the day with a leadoff single to left. Schmidt sacrificed her to second, which tied her for the record for sacrifices in a season with ten. The Vikings intentionally walked Ronning to set up Roesler with two runners on. She made them pay with an RBI single to right to bring home Carlson for the third time.
The junior went 4-4 at the plate with three runs scored. In addition, she threw seven innings in the circle, gave up one earned run while striking out four. Roesler added two hits, and Schmidt, Ronning, Stoll, and Hannasch recorded one.
Up Next
The Eagles will next play the winner of St. Scholastica and Wisconsin-Superior on Friday, May 14th. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 pm.
Follow Northwestern softball online at www.unweagles.com or on Twitter or Instagram @unwsoftball.
Tournament Bracket
Thursday, May 13
Game 1: 10 am - #4 Northland College vs. #5 UW-Superior; UWS won 7-2
Game 2: 12 pm - #2 Bethany Lutheran College vs. #3 University of Northwestern; UNW won 5-2
Game 3: 4 pm - #1 College of St. Scholastica vs. #5 UW-Superior; UWS won 5-4
Game 4: 6 pm - #4 Northland College vs. #2 Bethany Lutheran College; BLC won 8-0
Friday, May 14
Game 5: 12 pm - #3 University of Northwestern vs. #5 UW-Superior
Game 6: 2 pm - #1 College of St. Scholastica vs. #2 Bethany Lutheran College
Game 7: 4 pm - Loser of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6
Saturday, May 15
Game 8: 12 pm - Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 7
Game 9: 2 pm - If necessary game (if undefeated team entering game 8 would lose in game 8)
