ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team split with Crown College on Saturday on an explosive day for both offenses. The Storm took the opener, 10-7, but the Cougars came back for a wild 22-16 win in the second game of the day. UMN Morris is now 4-8 on the season.
After all softball on Saturday, there is no rest for the weary as the Cougars immediately jump back into action with a doubleheader on Sunday at Concordia College (MN) starting at 2 p.m.
Game One: Crown 10, Minnesota Morris 7
Two hits and a Crown error in the first inning led to three runs for Minnesota Morris, but the Cougars wouldn't collect another hit until the seventh inning as a comeback attempt came up short. Lead-off walks to
Lydia Mann and
Eleanore Steinhouse put two aboard and an error brought Mann in for a 1-0 lead. After that,
Autumn Theis and
Morgan Mathews had RBI hits to make it 3-0.
The lead lasted only until the second inning as four hits and three free passes brought five runs in for Crown to take a 5-3 lead. Insurance runs later in the game made it 10-3 heading to the seventh.
In their final turn at the plate, the Cougars attempted a late rally. With two outs and no one on, Minnesota Morris strung together a hit, a walk, then three more hits in rapid succession to make it 10-7 before Steinhouse was called out at home to end the game.
Game Two: Minnesota Morris 22, Crown 16 (6 innings)
Due to steady rain throughout the afternoon, the second game of the day was finally called in the sixth inning due to field conditions. Before that occurred, the teams had combined for 38 runs on 35 hits with only a single error.
The Cougars once again got off to a quick start in the second game, with
Tori Nichols-Kraft driving in
Olivia Diver and
Sarah Curtiss.
Brenna Mahoney later doubled Nichols-Kraft home for a 3-0 lead. The Storm answered back with five runs in the bottom of the first and a single run in the bottom of the second to take a 6-3 edge on Minnesota Morris.
Thanks in large part to five walks and a hit batter in the top of the third, UMN Morris roared back with seven runs to go on top, 10-6. Nichols-Kraft,
Mollie Dummer, and
Haley Wollschlager all had RBI doubles in the frame. Crown answered back with seven hits in the bottom of the third to plate five and retake an 11-10 lead heading to the fourth inning.
With two on and two outs in the top of the fourth, Diver doubled in Mann and Wollschlager. That was followed by a double from Theis to score Diver for a 13-11 advantage. The Storm finally went down in order in the bottom of the fourth and Minnesota Morris tacked on another seven runs with five hits, three walks and a hit batter in the top of the fifth. Curtiss, Theis and Dummer all had hits that drove in two in the inning.
No lead was big enough to be comfortable and Crown proved that by scoring five runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the UMN Morris lead down to 20-16. An error from the Storm in the top of the sixth was enough for two Cougar runs to cross home plate to make it 22-16 and Crown went down relatively quietly in the bottom of the sixth before the two sides decided to call it a day.
Dummer earned the win for the Cougars to go to 3-3 on the season, while also going 4-for-4 with four RBIs at the plate. Wollschlager was 3-for-4 with four runs scored. Curtiss, Diver, Theis, and Nichols-Kraft all had two hits apiece.
