MORRIS, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Softball team had an eventful day on Friday as they traveled to the campus of the University of Minnesota-Morris to compete in the second and final UMAC Crossover Weekend of the season. The Eagles started out their day by defeating Crown 11-4, and then finished their game with Bethany Lutheran that was suspended due to darkness back on April 25
th. The game was suspended in the eighth inning with the score tied 12-12, and the Eagles eventually fell to the Vikings when the game was resumed on Friday, 13-12 in 10 innings.
Game One
The Eagles were ready for the start of the UMAC Crossover Weekend and it was evident by how they swung the bats early in the game against Crown. UNW's offense came out red hot and put nine runs up on the scoreboard in only the first three innings.
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) started the game with a walk and a steal of second base.
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) drove a double to right centerfield allowing Gee to score the first run of the game. Lane would then score on a groundball hit by
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Central Methodist), who was the hero in Wednesday's game against Wisconsin-Superior when she hit a walk-off single. The Eagles had an early 2-0 lead.
UNW would extend their lead in the second inning when
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock) launched a solo shot to right field for her team leading third homerun of the season. Gee would then cause more havoc with her speed by picking up a bunt single, stealing second base, and then advancing to third on an errant throw. Lane would pick up another RBI by driving her in with a single to centerfield. Lane herself would then steal second base and also advance to third on an errant throw, just like her teammate did. Lundt would drive her in with a single and the Eagles put up three runs in the second inning.
Crown would answer back with their first runs of the game when they scored three in the top half of the third. The big hit of the inning was a two run double to left field. UNW came up to bat in the bottom of the third inning with their lead now cut down to 5-3. However, the Eagles would answer with their biggest inning of the afternoon.
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) picked up an infield single which allowed
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Wheaton College) and
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) to score on the play. Gee then scored on another RBI double by
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian).
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Central Methodist) then hit an RBI triple that scored Lane. When the dust had settled, the Eagles had scored four runs in the third and now led 9-3.
Crown would pick up another run in the top half of the fifth, but UNW answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame.
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) drove in two runs with a single that allowed
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) and
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) to score. The Eagles would win the game thanks to an offensive explosion, 11-4.
UNW's offense had incredible numbers in the contest. The team collected 16 hits with eight different players contributing to that total, and six different players had multiple hits.
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) was 3-3 at the plate, drew a walk, scored four runs, and had three RBIs.
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Central Methodist) was 2-4 with 3 RBIs.
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) was 3-4 with 2 RBIs.
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) was 2-3, drew a walk, scored 3 runs, and had 2 RBIs.
Ireland Strubbe (Chandler, Ariz./Valley Christian) continued her incredible season as she improved to 10-2 in the circle on the year. She pitched a complete game and struck out a career high 9 batters.
Game Two
The Eagles second game of the day was an unorthodox one. On Tuesday of this week, the Eagles traveled to Mankato, Minnesota for a doubleheader with UMAC leading Bethany Lutheran. After having dropped the first game to the Vikings, the Eagles were locked in a 12-12 ball game in extra innings in the night cap. Unfortunately, mother nature picked up a win against both teams that evening. The game was suspended in the eighth inning due to darkness. With both teams competing in the UMAC Crossover Weekend on Friday, this was the perfect opportunity for the two teams to finish the contest.
The Eagles were not intimidated by the Vikings, who entered the game undefeated in UMAC play, as they jumped on the conference leaders right away.
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Central Methodist) started the scoring in the first inning with a single that scored
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall), and
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) followed that up with a single to score
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian). Lundt would then score on an error and UNW had an early 3-0 lead.
The Eagles would add to that lead in the top of the second.
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) raced home on a sacrifice fly from Lane and UNW had a 4-0 lead over the first place Vikings. However, BLC answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the second thanks to a sacrifice fly of their own. The score was 4-1 in favor of the Eagles after two innings.
This game would take fans on a wild ride through the middle innings. In the third inning, the Eagles' offense continued to roll.
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) singled home
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Wheaton College).
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) doubled home Beer and Terry. The Eagles led 7-1 after three.
In the fourth inning, the Eagles kept on coming. Bentley singled home Lundt.
Lindsey Dvorak (Richmond, Minn./ROCORI) singled home
Riley Summers (Fontana, Wis./Big Foot). UNW had a 9-1 lead over the shell-shocked Vikings. However, this ball game changed on a dime. The Vikings put up three runs in the bottom of the fourth and a whopping five runs in the fifth. All of a sudden, the game was tied at 9-9, and this time it was the Eagles who were shocked.
However, each team showed a great deal of mental toughness and kept on responding to adversity. This time, it was the Eagles' turn. In the top of the sixth inning, UNW took the lead back with Summers scoring on a Beer sacrifice fly. 10-9 UNW. The Vikings scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth. 11-10 BLC. Summers drove in
Reganne Henning (Beatrice, Neb./Beatrice) and
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) with a single in the seventh. 12-11 UNW. With the Eagles only needing three more outs for the win, the Vikings answered with another run in the bottom of the seventh. 12-12.
With the game now in extra innings, the darkness decided that these two teams needed to take a breather. With darkness falling around the field, what was surely the game of the year, was suspended in the eighth inning.
Fast forward to Friday night. The game was resumed at neutral field in Morris, Minnesota. The eighth and ninth innings passed by scoreless. In the tenth inning, a runner gets to start the inning on second base. The Eagles were unable to score. BLC scored on a throwing error in the Eagle infield. After four days, 25 runs, and 33 hits… the wild ride was finally over. The Vikings defeated the Eagles 13-12.
The Eagles' offense put on a show in the loss. The team finished with 20 hits.
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Central Methodist) was an incredible 5-6 at the plate and added two runs scored along with an RBI.
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Wheaton College) and
Riley Summers (Fontana, Wis./Big Foot) each had three hits in the contest.
Up Next
The Eagles will continue the UMAC Crossover Weekend on Saturday with games against Minnesota-Morris (12:00 PM) and North Central (4:00 PM).
