ST. PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS - The Martin Luther College softball team split day one of the UMAC Crossover event, losing game one 9-5 at University of Northwestern (UNW) before winning 11-10 at North Central in extra innings.
UNW 9, MLC 5
The Knights fell into an early deficit and could not claw their way back in a 9-5 loss to UNW in the opener.
The Eagles started strong, scoring three times in the first inning and adding two more in the second to take a 5-0 lead.
MLC rallied in the fourth inning, scoring twice thanks to an RBI-single from
Elena Hoffman and an RBI-double from
Lexi Fischer, and then answered a run by the Eagles in the bottom half of the inning with two more runs in the fifth thanks to a pair of wild pitches to cut the UNW lead to 6-4.
The Eagles responded with three runs in the bottom half of the fifth, however, off MLC pitcher
Jessica Horn (2-8), and then held the Knights to one run in the final two frames to secure the win.
Jordyn Heckendorf led the Knights at the plate with three hits, while Fischer added two hits. Horn went the distance in the circle, allowing nine runs on 15 hits.
MLC 11, NCU 10 (8 innings)
MLC closed the day by rallying to defeat NCU 11-10 in extra innings.
The teams went back and forth throughout the game, trading the lead with big innings in difficult conditions. The Knights jumped to an early 4-0 lead in the first inning, but NCU came back with six runs to take a 6-4 advantage. After
Emmalee Mindock and
Anna Busch put the Knights back in front with a pair of RBI-hits in the third, NCU answered with three runs to take a two-run lead into the seventh inning.
Trailing 9-7 in their final at bat, Fischer came through with a two-run home run to tie the game, and the Knights added another run in the inning to take a 10-9 lead on a Hoffman ground rule double.
The Rams answered in the bottom of the seventh with a run to force extra innings, but
Emma Berg put the Knights back on top with an RBI-double, and
Madison Uhlenbrauck (3-8) closed the game with the final outs to secure the win.
Heckendorf, Hoffman, Berg and Mindock each finished with three hits to lead the Knights at the plate. Uhlenbrauck went the distance in the circle to earn the win.
MLC moved to 7-17 on the season and 2-8 in UMAC play with the split. The Knights will return to action at the crossover event tomorrow (Saturday, April 23) when they face Minnesota Morris at 10:00 a.m., followed by a game against Northland at 2:00 p.m.
