NEW ULM, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team lost two close non-conference contests with Martin Luther College on Monday, falling by scores of 4-3 and 8-6 in eight innings. The games won't cost the Cougars in the UMAC standings, but the team falls to 8-16 overall on the season.

Minnesota Morris returns to UMAC action with an afternoon doubleheader at Crown College on Wednesday starting at 1 p.m.

Game One: Martin Luther 4, Minnesota Morris 3
The crooked numbers put up by Martin Luther in the second and fourth innings were just enough to get past the single runs scored by Minnesota Morris in the first, third, and fifth innings in the first game of the day. Autumn Theis and Tori Nichols-Kraft split duties in the circle for the Cougars, but the loss fell on Nichols-Kraft (0-4) despite allowing only two runs and striking out a pair in 3.0 innings.

Minnesota Morris jumped on top in the first inning as Lydia Mann led the game off with a double and was driven in by a Nichols-Kraft double to make it 1-0. Martin Luther responded with a pair in the bottom of the second, loading the bases with no outs and then scoring twice on a Cougar error to take the lead.

The Cougars came right back to knot the score in the third inning. With the bases loaded, Morgan Mathews singled back up the middle to score Nichols-Kraft and level the game at 2-2.

Martin Luther would take the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth. With one away in the inning, the Knights had back-to-back singles, followed by a third single that plated a run though the trail runner was tagged out on the play. The next batter doubled in another run before being tagged trying to get to third.

The final run for the Cougars came with two down in the top of the fifth. The bases were loaded for Jasmine Jensen and though she struck out swinging, she was able to safely make it to first when the catcher dropped the ball and Olivia Diver alertly raced home to make it a one-run deficit. 

Martin Luther was able to escape the inning and then allowed just a single baserunner in the sixth. In the seventh, the Cougars had two on with two outs before the game ended on a strikeout call.

Nichols-Kraft led the offense with a 3-for-3 game. Theis and Mathews also had two hits in the contest for the Cougars.

Game Two: Martin Luther 8, Minnesota Morris 6 (8 innings)
Scoreless after two innings, the second game of the doubleheader picked up considerably in the third inning before ending on a walk-off home run for Martin Luther in extra innings.

An error in the bottom of the third by Minnesota Morris allowed two runs to come in and score in the inning for the Knights. The answer was prompt from the Cougars as they tied the game up at 2-2 with only one hit in the top of the fourth. Haley Wollschlager drew a lead-off walk, went to second on a wild pitch, moved up a base on a groundout from Mann and then scored on another wild pitch. Two walks and a RBI single from Diver followed to even things up.

A three-run inning from Martin Luther in the bottom of the fifth gave the home side a 5-2 lead, but again Minnesota Morris rallied. After Mann was walked to start the sixth and went to second on a wild pitch, a Martin Luther error brought her home to make it 5-3. Diver later drove in Mathews on a sacrifice fly and a Grace Penke single drove in Eleanore Steinhouse to tie the game at 5-5.

The game would go extras after that and a runner was place on second with this being a non-conference matchup. Nichols-Kraft went to third base on a groundout to start the inning and then scored on a sac fly from Mollie Dummer to give the Cougars their first lead, 6-5.

Unfortunately, that lead evaporated with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the eighth. The Knights started with a runner on second and then had runners on the corners after a successful bunt. Lisa Hoffer brought the game to a close with a three-run shot to right-center, ending the game on a walk-off.

Dummer struck out nine in 7.0+ innings, but took the loss to fall to 5-6 on the year. Mann and Diver each had two hits in the game to spur the Cougar offense.