LEESBURG, Fla. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team shrugged off a tough start to the day on Thursday to come away with two victories on a busy day of action at the Sleepy Hollow Athletic Complex. To make up for lost games on this trip, the Cougars were scheduled to play North Central College (IL) on short notice and ended that game with a 5-0 loss to the Cardinals. UMN Morris answered back promptly with a 5-2 victory over Ripon College and ended the day with a 2-1 victory over Washington College (MD) in eight innings.

Now 3-7 on the season, Minnesota Morris wraps up its trip to Florida on Friday with matchups against Springfield College at 9 a.m. (EDT) and SUNY Geneseo at 11:15 a.m. (EDT) pending the confirmation of schedules from tournament organizers.

North Central (IL) 5, Minnesota Morris 0
Minnesota Morris was given a tough draw with its new matchup on Thursday morning. North Central is one of the top teams in the perennially-tough CCIW and played like it throughout. Cougar pitching did well to limit the Cardinals to five runs (three earned), though Abby Wothe was still tagged with the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season.

After a scoreless first inning, North Central took a 1-0 lead in the second on an unearned run. The Cardinals tacked on another in the third inning and then took full advantage of two Minnesota Morris errors in the top of the fourth to plate three more.

North Central started the game with Sarah Lynch in the circle and she threw two hitless innings before giving way to Gianna Corban. Corban went the rest of the way and struck out 11 Cougar hitters in 5.0 innings, not giving up a hit until Tori Nichols-Kraft found an infield gap in the bottom of the seventh. 

Adrianna Johnson was excellent in relief for Minnesota Morris, throwing the final 3.0 innings and striking out three while giving up just one hit.

Minnesota Morris 5, Ripon 2
Mollie Dummer (2-3) threw a complete game and Minnesota Morris jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never let up to nab a victory over the Red Hawks in the middle game of the day. 

Early on, it was a Nichols-Kraft single that brought Jasmine Jensen home for the first run of the game and Dummer added a single later in the frame to score Nichols-Kraft.

A Ripon home run in the bottom of the second cut the UMN Morris lead in half, but the Cougars quickly got that back in the top of the third. Jensen led off with a single and a double off the bat of Nichols-Kraft brought her in for a 3-1 advantage.

Minnesota Morris added onto its lead in the top of the fifth on an Autumn Theis single, followed by a double from Dummer to score pinch-runner Anna Baumann for a 4-1 lead. Ripon kept things close with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning to make it 4-2, but Dummer got out of the frame and then sat the Red Hawks down in order in the sixth.

In the final inning, Baumann doubled and Dummer singled before a sacrifice bunt from Olivia Diver to score Baumann for a 5-2 lead. The Red Hawks brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Dummer first got a fly out to right and then a groundout to third to finish it off.

Going the entire 7.0 innings, Dummer struck out three and gave up only five hits. She was also 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs. Nichols-Kraft, Theis, and Sarah Curtiss also had multi-hit games.

Minnesota Morris 2, Washington (MD) 1
The day finished with a pitcher's duel between Grace Penke and Gen Kozub, though neither pitcher exited with a decision. 

After Penke put the Shorewomen down in order in the first two innings, Minnesota Morris loaded the bases in the bottom of the second on two walks and a single from Carly Mahoney before Washington got out of the jam.

Washington had a baserunner in the third on a Cougar error, but it wasn't until the fourth inning that the Shorewomen managed a hit off of Penke. The senior pitcher for UMN Morris ended the threat with a lineout, leaving a runner stranded on third.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when Sierra Stevens led off with a double and went to third on a passed ball. With two down, Dummer singled in Stevens to put the Cougars ahead, 1-0.

Theis relieved Penke with one down in the top of the seventh, but with two on and two down, a passed ball brought a run in and tied the score at 1-1, sending the game to extra innings.

Following international rules and with a runner on second to start the top of the eighth, Theis worked out of trouble by getting a lineout back to the rubber and then a groundout to short to bring the top of the eighth to a close. With Carly Mahoney on second to start the bottom of the eighth, Allison Pohlman singled to put runners on the corners and Stevens followed with a walk-off single.

Penke went 6.1 innings and gave up just four hits while striking out a pair. Theis was perfect in 1.2 innings other than one hit batter. Stevens led the offense for the Cougars with a 2-for-4 day, driving in one run and scoring another.