CLERMONT, Fla. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team ended its season-opening trip to Florida with three losses on Friday. The Cougars were shutout by Springfield College (10-0) and SUNY Geneseo (8-0) before suffering a 4-3 loss to Salve Regina University that saw the Seahawks rally from a run down in bottom of the seventh to win.

Weather and field conditions permitting, Minnesota Morris is back in action with a home doubleheader against Finlandia University on March 25 starting at 2 p.m.

Springfield 10, Minnesota Morris 0 (5 innings)
Minnesota Morris fell into an early deficit and it spiraled from there as Springfield wrapped up a 10-0 win over the Cougars in five innings to start the day. 

The Pride scored three unearned runs in the top of the first and then kept Minnesota Morris off the board when the Cougars had the bases loaded in the bottom of the second. 

Springfield would go on to score four runs in the third, two more in the fourth, and one in the fifth to take a 10-0 lead. Minnesota Morris managed just one hit in the game, a single from Jasmine Jensen in the bottom of the third inning.

Abby Wothe was charged with the loss for UMN Morris, while both Adrianna Johnson and Autumn Theis worked in relief as the game progressed.

SUNY Geneseo 8, Minnesota Morris 0 (6 innings)
The Cougars were once again held in check by opposing pitching in the second game of the day, this time from a complete game performance from Elizabeth Eberhardt. Eberhardt went 6.0 innings and struck out four while giving up just a single hit to Minnesota Morris, a single to lead off the second inning from Mollie Dummer.

Following a two-out single from SUNY Geneseo in the bottom of the first, the Knights scored four more in the second inning to grab control of the contest. The next two innings were scoreless for both teams, but SUNY Geneseo was able to end the contest early by plating two more runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to reach the eight-run threshold.

Grace Penke was the losing pitcher in the contest for Minnesota Morris after working 3.0 innings. Theis went the rest of the way in relief.

Salve Regina 4, Minnesota Morris 3
Minnesota Morris led most of the way in its Florida finale before giving up the lead late in the game to the Seahawks.

Though the Cougars loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the second, Salve Regina was able to keep them off the board. Minnesota Morris came right back with two runs in the third inning however, with Sierra Stevens setting the table from the top of the order. After a single and a steal of second base, Brenna Mahoney walked and both moved up a station before Stevens scored on a wild pitch. With Mahoney on third, Tori Nichols-Kraft hit a sacrifice fly to bring her in.

The Seahawks answered back with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth and then a two-out triple in the fifth that brought a run home to level the score up at 2-2.

Minnesota Morris retook the lead in the top of the sixth with back-to-back singles from Jasmine Jensen and Carly Mahoney. Following a sacrifice bunt from Anna Baumann, Stevens singled back to the pitcher bring Jensen home for a 3-2 edge. 

Dummer stranded two Salve Regina runners in the sixth inning, but the Cougars were unable to extend their lead in the top of the seventh, though they had two runners in scoring position with one out. That proved to be consequential in the bottom of the seventh as the Seahawks had runners on second and third with outs and hit consecutive singles to first tie the game and then to win it.

Dummer ended with the loss to fall to 2-4 on the season, working 6.2 innings and striking out seven. Stevens was 2-for-3 out of the lead-off spot.