PLYMOUTH, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team split a non-conference doubleheader with Northland College on Thursday. The Cougars rallied late in the first game to earn a hard-fought 7-2 victory over the Jills. The second contest went extra innings and Northland was able to capitalize on the international rule of starting the eighth inning with a runner on second. The Jills plated three runs in the top half of the frame and UMN Morris was unable to answer.

The doubleheader split puts the Cougars at 2-4 on the season. The team is back in action on March 16 with a road doubleheader at Augsburg University in Minneapolis. The first pitch of that twinbill is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Game One: Minnesota Morris 7, Northland 2
Held scoreless for the first five innings and trailing 2-0, Minnesota Morris exploded for four runs in the top of the sixth inning and three more in the top of the seventh to win the opener. Autumn Theis, on in relief of starter Abby Wothe, picked up the win to move to 1-0 on the season.

Northland got to Wothe in the bottom of the third with four consecutive singles to start the inning, the last of which made it 1-0. After getting two outs in the inning, Wothe issued a walk which allowed another run in to make it 2-0.

For the first five innings, the Cougars couldn't manage much against Northland starter Sofia Garcia and the Plymouth Dome didn't help much either. Two hard-hit balls off the bats of Jasmine Jensen and Grace Penke hit the roof of the dome on their way to deep left field, resulting in automatic outs.

Things changed quickly in the sixth. Carly Mahoney led off with a walk before Haley Wollschlager came in to pinch run. A single from Eleanore Steinhouse and a double steal put two runners in scoring position and Lydia Mann cashed in the opportunity with a double that tied the game at 2-2. Later in the inning, Mann was at third when Autumn Theis hit an infield single to bring her home for a 3-2 lead. Jensen added a RBI double with two outs that scored Morgan Mathews to make the score 4-2 heading to the bottom of the sixth.

Theis worked a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth and the UMN Morris offense got back to work in the top of the seventh. Garcia sat the first two batters of the inning down before Steinhouse kept the inning alive with an infield single. Mann followed that with a towering blast to left-center, over the netting to make it 6-2. Olivia Diver was up next and drew a walk, then raced around the bases after Theis singled to right-center to make it a 7-2 contest. With the Cougars on defense, the game ended on a 4-3 double play when Diver made the play at second, tagged the runner on the base paths and then threw to first to wrap up the victory.

Minnesota Morris had a 9-5 advantage in hits in the game. Theis was 3-for-4, while both Steinhouse and Mann collected two hits apiece.

Game Two: Northland 4, Minnesota Morris 1 (8 innings)
A pitcher's duel for seven innings took a turn in the eighth and resulted in the loss for Minnesota Morris to wrap up the day. Mollie Dummer went 7.2 innings and gave up no earned runs, but four unearned runs came back to bite the Cougars as she dropped to 1-2 on the season.

Northland struck in the top of the first with a double from Jenna Reyes. That led to a two-out error from the Cougar defense off the bat of Saylor Donnelly to give the Jills a 1-0 lead. That held up until the bottom of the third when Mann drove a ball straight down the left-field line and over the net to tie the game up at 1-1.

Chances were relatively few and far between for both teams until the seventh when both had the bases loaded and both were unable to capitalize. In the top of the seventh, Northland had its first three hitters reach on an error, a fielder's choice in which both runners were safe, and finally a walk. Dummer escaped the jam with a soft fly to center field, a line drive to shortstop and a strikeout. The Cougars had two outs and no one on until Diver hit a ground-rule double. That was followed by walks to Penke and Theis to load the bases before Kayla Preisler was able to get out of the inning with a strikeout. 

With international rules in play for this non-conference game, each inning started with a runner on second. An error put runners on the corners with no outs for Northland, but Dummer forced two pop-outs to come within one out of escaping another bad situation. A single into right-center just got over the glove of second baseman Tori Nichols-Kraft, however, and that was followed by a RBI walk and another RBI single to make it 4-1. Though the Cougars also started the bottom of the eighth with a runner on second, they were unable to get anything going against Preisler and she finished off the complete-gave victory.

The trio of Diver, Mann and Mathews all collected two hits as part of a nine-hit effort from Minnesota Morris in the second game.