MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team played solidly much of the day in their first two games ever at Holmberg Field, but a spate of errors as each game progressed allowed the University of Northwestern to come away with a pair of victories. The Eagles took the first game, 6-3, in 10 innings, then won the second contest by a score of 11-6.

Minnesota Morris heads to Mankato on Friday and Saturday for three neutral-site games. First up is a 2 p.m. game against Crown College on Friday afternoon.

Northwestern 6, Minnesota Morris 3 (10 innings)
The Cougars started quickly in the first game of the day, retiring Northwestern in order thanks to a pair of base-running blunders from the Eagles. On offense for the first time, Minnesota Morris notched all three of its runs in the first frame. Sierra Stevens led off with a single and Mollie Dummer reached via an error. After a wild pitch moved each runner up a base, Tori Nichols-Kraft drove in Stevens with a RBI groundout. The next hitter, Marissa Allen, doubled Dummer home for a 2-0 lead and Jasmine Jensen hit a two-out single to score Allen for a 3-0 edge.

That three-run lead lasted all the way until the sixth inning when three errors from the UMN Morris defense allowed three runs to score for Northwestern. 

With the game proceeding into the bottom of the seventh still knotted at 3-3, the Cougars had three chances to walk off with a win, however they were kept at bay by Eagle starting pitcher Briggs Carlson. With a runner on second to start each inning starting in the 10th, Northwestern took advantage with a lead-off bunt single, then a triple from Carlson and a single from Jadyn Iverson to go up, 6-3. The Cougars were retired in order in their last trip to the plate. 

Dummer threw a complete game, going 10.0 innings, but was tagged with the loss to go to 9-8 on the season. She recorded six strikeouts in the game while giving up six runs, only two of which were earned. She also was the only Cougar with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Northwestern 11, Minnesota Morris 6
The second game of the afternoon would end up being a high-scoring affair, but it was scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when Minnesota Morris scored on a RBI single from Nichols-Kraft, driving in Stevens for a 1-0 lead.

Northwestern answered with a run against Autumn Theis in the top of the fourth to level it at 1-1, but the Cougars again took the lead back quickly. Olivia Diver singled with one out to put a runner on. Jensen then doubled and an error from the Northwestern shortstop on the relay throw allowed Diver to race home from third to make it 2-1.

Things fell apart for Minnesota Morris in the top of the fifth as Northwestern collected six hits and were helped by three errors from the Cougar defense to plate eight runs and take a 9-2 edge. Dummer knocked in Stevens in the bottom of the fifth with a RBI double to cut into the deficit at 9-3. In the bottom of the sixth, a Stevens RBI single plated Jensen and Diver to make it 9-5.

Hopes of a late Minnesota Morris comeback were dashed with an error and a pair of unearned runs for the Eagles in the top of the seventh. Grace Penke added a RBI single in the bottom of the seventh but it wasn't enough as daylight faded and the game ended on a soft groundout to first.

Stevens, Nichols-Kraft, and Jensen all had three hits in the game for Minnesota Morris. Autumn Theis only gave up one earned run, but eight were credited to her in 4.1 innings as she took the loss and fell to 2-2 on the year.