MANKATO, Minn. – The UMN Morris softball team (16-22) closed out its 2019 season with a pair of losses on day one of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament on Thursday.

The No. 5-seeded Cougars dropped their first game of the day 5-1 to the No. 4 seed Northwestern Eagles (24-15), then UMN Morris was eliminated from the UMAC Tournament with a 9-3 loss to the No. 2 seed Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets (18-18).

Game One Recap (5-1 – Northwestern)
After a scoreless top of the first inning for the Cougars, Northwestern struck first with a run in the home half of the inning.

The game remained at 1-0 in favor of the Eagles until the top of the fourth when the Cougars tied things up at 1-1. In the top of the fourth, Emily Nordquist doubled to center field, and on the play a throwing error brought home Michelle O'Rourke.

Northwestern then opened up the game with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 5-1 lead. The Cougars were unable to respond down the stretch, sending Minnesota Morris to the elimination game against the No. 2 seed Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets.

Game Two Recap (9-3 – Wisconsin-Superior)
The Yellowjackets jumped out to an early lead over the Cougars with three runs in the first and second. With a 6-0 lead, Wisconsin-Superior added another two runs in the third to make it an 8-0 contest.

Trailing 8-0 in the top of the fourth, the Cougars picked up two runs on a Megan Knickerbocker single to center field, which scored Becca Holland and Paige Dahlberg. Wisconsin-Superior would then get a run back in the bottom of the fourth.

In the top of sixth, Holland, who went 3-for-3 in game two, hit a single to center field to score Jasmine Jensen from third base to bring the score to 9-3.

Wisconsin-Superior kept Minnesota Morris off the board in the seventh to secure the 9-3 victory.