Northfield, MN - The MLC softball team began the 2026 season today at the Dundas Dome in a non-conference contest against Crown College. The game would end in five innings after the Polars defeated the Knights 11-2.

Crown was the designated home team and scored four runs in the bottom of the first. MLC then got the bats going in the top of the second as Rhiannon Schaefer and Kiara Humann reached base with a double and a single, respectively. Both players found their way around home when Emily Laupichler hit an RBI single in her first collegiate plate appearance to get the Knights on the board to trail 4-2.

Crown tallied on four additional runs on three hits in the bottom half of the second to take an 8-2 lead and added a run in the third and two runs in the fourth inning to secure the win.

MLC will gear up for their annual Spring Break trip to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in a couple of weeks. There, the Knights will play ten games in five days.