MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team roared back after trailing in each contest of a doubleheader against Northland College on Saturday, earning 10-9 and 5-4 victories over the LumberJills at Big Cat Stadium. The Cougars improve to 7-12 (4-2 UMAC) with the wins.

Minnesota Morris looks to build on Saturday's sweep with a trip to face North Central University on Wednesday afternoon starting at 3:30 p.m.

Game One: Minnesota Morris 10, Northland 9
The first two-and-a-half innings went about as well as Northland College could have dreamed of, but Minnesota Morris scored at least one run in each of its final five turns at the plate, erasing an 8-0 lead for the LumberJills and winning by a score of 10-9.

Northland, helped by a Cougar error in the top of the first, put two runs on the board against Grace Penke to start the game off. In the second, the LumberJills pounded out five hits and drew a walk to increase its margin to 7-0. Another error from Minnesota Morris and a subsequent double in the third inning made it 8-0 as the Cougars went back on offense.

Sofia Garcia kept the Cougars in check for the first two innings, but UMN Morris began to get to her starting in the bottom of the third. With two outs and two aboard, Marissa Allen tripled in Olivia Diver and Tori Nichols-Kraft to make it 8-2 after three.

Abby Wothe came in and pitched a 1-2-3 fourth inning in relief and Penke and Minnesota Morris cut the six-run Northland lead in half in the bottom of the frame. It all happened with two outs. First, Sierra Stevens kept the inning going with a single and that was followed by a triple from Diver to make it 8-3. Nichols-Kraft then singled Diver home. Garcia began losing her control after that, walking three straight Cougar batters, with a walk to Penke with the bases loaded doing enough to drive in Nichols-Kraft to make it an 8-5 ballgame.

Adrianna Johnson went in for Wothe in the fifth and made it through unscathed. In the bottom of the fifth, Northland committed an error with two outs and no one aboard. The Cougars were able to turn that into a RBI single from Nichols-Kraft, bringing Stevens home and slicing the deficit down to 8-6.

Northland increased its lead back to three runs with a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth, but Minnesota Morris continued its run of two-out offense by pushing three runs across in the bottom of the inning and tying the game up. Stevens hit a ground-rule double with two runners in scoring position to make it 9-8. Diver was up next and singled to right field to allow Stevens to race in to knot the score.

In the top of the seventh, Northland had two runners on with two outs against relief pitcher Autumn Theis. A hot shot off the bat of Saylor Donnelly was deflected and slowed down by Theis' instinctual reaction, with the ball ricocheting to Diver at second for the easy putout at first. In the bottom of the seventh, Minnesota Morris loaded the bases with no outs, but Jasmine Jensen lined into a double play as reliever Ariana Wilson made a nice grab and caught Anna Athey creeping off third. With two down, Allison Pohlmann hit an infield single to third base and the throw got away from the first baseman, allowing Theis to score and the Cougars to walk off with the one-run victory.

Theis earned the win in the circle, moving to 2-1 on the season. Nichols-Kraft was 4-for-5 with two RBIs in the game. Diver was 3-for-4 and both she, Stevens, and Allen all drove in a pair as well. Pohlmann also ended with two hits in the contest.

Game Two: Minnesota Morris 5, Northland 4
Minnesota Morris got the scoring started in game two, but it took another comeback to defeat the LumberJills after Northland pushed four runs across in the top of the third inning.

Working game two, Mollie Dummer sat Northland down in order in the top of the first. The Cougars then had Stevens lead off the bottom of the first with a triple and Nichols-Kraft doubled her home two batters later for a 1-0 lead. Before the inning was through, Dummer would single in Nichols-Kraft for a 2-0 advantage.

Northland took the lead from Minnesota Morris as they scored runs on four consecutive batters in the top of the third. The Cougars answered the challenge by scoring once in the bottom of the third on a single from Theis that drove in Stevens to leave the game at 4-3 in favor of the visitors.

A clutch two-out hit from Diver in the bottom of the fourth scored Athey after the freshman had reached via a Northland error. That tied the game up at 4-4 and it stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth. Athey was once again involved in the action as she led off the inning with a single and then stole second to move into scoring position with two down. Nichols-Kraft had the big hit to then bring Athey home for a 5-4 advantage.

The top of the seventh had some drama as Northland put runners on the corners with two outs, but Dummer got Jenna Reyes swinging to end it, locking up the second one-run victory of the day.

Dummer struck out eight in a complete-game performance, moving to 5-5 on the season. Dummer and Nichols-Kraft each collected two hits in the game for the Cougars.