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Heather Briese v. Presentation, 4/20/11

Softball

Softball Tops Northland 8-7, Wraps Successful Regular Season

Softball Tops Northland 8-7, Wraps Successful Regular Season

Heather Briese scored the winning run in the sixth.

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Box Score

Mankato, Minn. – The Minnesota Morris softball team wrapped up the 2011 regular season today (Apr. 30), scoring am 8-7 win over Northland at the UMAC crossover.

Already one of the most successful season's in school history, the Cougars have at least two games left, in the double-elimination UMAC Tournament this Friday and Saturday (May 6,7). Morris ends the regular season with program records for overall wins with 18 and UMAC wins with 15.

And with their 18-16 record, the Cougars need just one win in the tournament to secure the first winning season in school history.

That 18th win was in question until late in the game today though, as Morris and Northland traded blows through the first five innings. With the score tied 7-7 in the sixth, an Emily Mehr (Aitkin, Minn.) sacrifice fly gave the Cougars the lead for good. Heather Briese (Fergus Falls, Minn.) started the inning with a single, and two batters later she was on third for Mehr.

The LumberJills opened the scoring with two in the first, getting to Cougar starter Kaitlyn Randall (Concord, Calif.) for three hits. The Cougars answered with two of their own in the bottom of the first, starting a trend of two runs and inning per team over the first three innings.

Northland then went up 7-6 in the fourth – taking the lead for the fourth straight inning – and held it until the Kristy Hoge (Aitkin, Minn.) drove home Ashley Splonskowski (Madison, Minn.) with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.

Then finally in the sixth, the Cougars took their first lead, before riding out the win.

Randall went the distance to move her season record to 11-7, allowing all seven runs (six earned) with eight hits, while striking out seven. The freshman now has 168 of the Cougars 214 strikeouts on the season and has notched seven or more 13 times.

Diane Blommel (Grey Eagle, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Her seventh three hit game on the year, her batting average is now just a touch away from the .500 mark at .495.

Briese added two hits as the Cougars totaled 10 on the day, their best mark of the weekend.

With a well deserved week of rest on the horizon, the Cougars will make their fourth straight trip to the UMAC tourney on May 6, when they open up with third-seeded Northwestern at 10:00 a.m.  
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