Morris, MN - The Martin Luther College softball team took care of business on Tuesday afternoon as they defeated Minnesota-Morris 6-3 and 7-4 on the road. The pair of wins snap a four-game skid and gets the Knights back on the winning side of the score column.

MLC 6, UMM 3

Game one featured a nice outing from starting pitcher, Jessica Horn, who tossed a complete game and only allowed 3 runs scored. The Knights added some run support for Horn with a four-run top of the third inning. The inning got going with a ground-rule double from Lisa Hoffer that scored Jordyn Heckendorf and Olivia Siehr. The Cougars answered MLC's four runs, with two of their own in the bottom half of the inning, but the Knights didn't let that phase them by scoring another two runs in the top of the fifth inning. This time around, Lexi Fischer and Britney Prahl answered the call with RBI singles to extend the MLC lead to 6-2.

The Cougars had one last chance to comeback and defeat the Knights in the bottom of the seventh inning after scoring their third run off of a double, but Horn put away Minnesota-Morris by forcing a groundout to end the game.

Heckendorf led MLC at the plate, going 4-4, while Hoffer and Fischer each recorded two RBI. The balanced hitting and pitching from Horn gave MLC an added boost and came awya with the game one win as a result.

MLC 7, UMM 4

Game two saw the Knights score first again, but this time it came from a pinch hitter in Sarah Vance, who singled into left field to bring home Hannah Ott. The Cougars responded with a run themselves in the bottom of the third to tie up the game 1-1. 

Siehr then started the top of the fourth with a RBI triple to break the tie, while Heckendorf followed up the big hit with an RBI single. The Knights went on to add one more run following the sequence to make it 4-1 at the end of top half of the inning.

From there, Minnesota-Morris added a run in the fourth and sixth inning to cut their deficit to 4-3 heading into the top of the seventh inning. But MLC had one final say in the top of the inning and received another big RBI single from Siehr and then sealed the deal with a two-run homer from Heckendorf into left field to make it 7-3.

Horn would keep the Cougars' lineup at bay and only gave up one more run in the bottom of the seventh. The sophomore once again went the distance, pitching 7 innings and showed great durability with back to back complete games.

Heckendorf followed up game one with another four hit game, with three RBI. Horn also found success at the plate and had three hits, while Siehr and Fischer had two hits apiece.

Coach Becca Doering was pleased with her team's effort in both games and noted, "Today was a full team effort. Every person stepped up when they needed to for the team. It was so awesome to see these girls play to their potential. We are excited and hungry going into our crossover weekend back in Morris."

Up next the MLC Knights (7-19, 4-10) will head back to Morris for the softball crossover where they will play Bethany on Friday, April 28 at 4 p.m.