NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College softball team overcame a game-one defeat against Crown College to earn a split in Tuesday's home doubleheader. The Storm took game one 6-2 before MLC won game two 11-3 in five innings.

Crown 6, MLC 2

Crown answered a strong MLC start with six unanswered runs to win game one 6-2.

Audrey Timm opened the scoring in the third inning with a solo home run (her fourth of the season), and Kelsey Birschbach added to that lead with an RBI-single that scored Kayla Rosenbaum to give MLC a 2-0 advantage.

Crown would answer in the top of the fourth with four unearned runs, and then added two more runs in the sixth to push their lead to four before sealing the win in the final two innings.

Rebecca Pruss (5-6) started the game for MLC and allowed four runs (all unearned) in 5.0 innings. Rosenbaum and Samantha Schoch led MLC with two hits apiece.

MLC 11, Crown 3 (five innings)

MLC took a big early lead and put the Storm away with four runs in the fifth inning to win game two 11-3.

Crown scored in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead, but MLC responded with six runs in the bottom half of the inning. Rosenbaum delivered the first big blow with a two-run single, while Brittany Denn and Elena Hoffman followed with RBI doubles. Denn's double tied her for the MLC single-season record with 16 this season.

The Storm scored once in the third and one more run in the fifth, but the Knights put the game away with four runs in the fifth inning, capped by a two-run single from Denn that scored Timm and Rosenbaum to end the game.

Morgan Palubicki (2-12) earned the win after allowing only two runs (one earned) in four innings. Denn and Rosenbaum each finished with three hits and combined to drive in seven runs.

MLC moved to 8-18 on the season and 4-10 in UMAC play with the split. Crown is now 11-21 overall and 5-11 in league play.

The Knights will return to action on Saturday, April 27, when they host Northland College in a doubleheader scheduled to start at 1 p.m.