MORRIS, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Softball team is sitting near the top of the UMAC standings and is preparing for the home stretch over the next week. The Eagles continue to fight for playoff seeding and played two important conference games on Saturday at the UMAC Crossover Weekend. The Eagles lost their first game of the afternoon to Minnesota-Morris 9-8 in extra innings, and then defeated North Central 29-6 in the finale (*the current box scores reads that the score was 28-6, a correct box score will be added as soon as possible).
Game One
The Eagles are no strangers to extra innings as they played in their third extra inning thriller of the week on Saturday. UNW jumped out to an early lead against Minnesota-Morris who was the home team with the UMAC Crossover Weekend taking place on the Cougars' campus.
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) picked up a first inning RBI by hitting a sacrifice fly to left field to score
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall). UNW had a 1-0 lead after an inning. In the second inning,
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) and
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock) scored on an error on a ball hit by
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian). The Eagles had a 3-0 lead after two innings.
The Eagles went down scoreless in the top of the third inning, and in the bottom of the frame, the game was flipped on its head. Minnesota-Morris would put together a big rally to jump out in front. The Cougars scored six runs in the third inning thanks to four RBI singles and a wild pitch that scored a run. In the blink of an eye, UNW now trailed 6-3. Morris would another run in the fourth inning and took a 7-3 lead.
In the fifth inning, it was UNW's turn to put together a monster inning. The Eagles scored five runs in the fifth to jump right back in front.
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake),
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock), and
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) all hit run scoring singles.
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) would then deliver the big blow of the inning: a two run double down the right field line that scored Keith and
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Wheaton College). The Eagles took a 8-7 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning, but Morris would erase the deficit in a hurry by hitting a game tying single in the bottom of the fifth.
The game would advance all the way to the bottom of the eighth inning with the score still knotted up at eight runs apiece. The Cougars would use a leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt to get a runner into scoring position, and would eventually win the game on a walk off sacrifice fly. UNW fell 9-8.
Emma Heffron (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) picked up four strikeouts in her three innings of work and
Jenna Nusbaum (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) only gave up one earned run in 4.2 innings of relief.
The Eagles had 16 hits in the game with
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo),
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock), and
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) all leading the way with three hits in the contest.
Game Two
The Eagles were firing on all cylinders in the second game of the doubleheader. UNW picked up 20 hits on their way to defeating the North Central Rams 28-6. UNW scored 10 runs in the first, 12 runs in the second, a single run in the third, and five runs in the fourth on their way to their 12
th UMAC victory of the season.
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake), UNW's usual centerfielder, pitched for the Eagles for the first time this season and the second time of her career. The sophomore picked up four strikeouts in a complete game on the way to her first win of the season.
Many Eagles had banner days at the plate in the win.
Maggie Oehlerking (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) was 3-3, drew two walks, scored five runs, and had two RBIs.
Lindsey Dvorak (Richmond, Minn./ROCORI) was 2-2 with two RBIs.
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) was 2-3, scored three runs, and had three RBIs.
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Central Methodist) scored four runs and had an RBI.
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) had three RBIs.
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) hit her first triple of the season, scored two runs, and had three RBIs.
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock) drew three walks, scored two runs, and had an RBI.
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) scored a run and had two RBIs.
Up Next
The Eagles will get another crack at Minnesota-Morris this upcoming week when they host the Cougars in a doubleheader at Reynolds Field on Tuesday, May 2
nd. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 3:30 PM.
