SUPERIOR, Wis. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team was unable to recapture the magic of yesterday's win over No. 1 seed University of Wisconsin-Superior on Friday. The Cougars fell in their opening contest, 11-2, to Bethany Lutheran College. Moving into an elimination game against the Yellowjackets, UW-Superior got its revenge with a 9-1 victory. UMN Morris finishes its season with a record of 13-23.

Game One: Bethany Lutheran 11, Minnesota Morris 2 (5 innings)
Following a two-hitter yesterday from Mollie Dummer, Minnesota Morris was going to ride its ace as far as she could take them, but the Cougars ran into a buzzsaw in the form of the Bethany Lutheran offense. The Vikings struck for three runs in the bottom of the first inning and then scored four more on Dummer in the second before she was relieved in order to save her for the second game of the afternoon.

The Vikings scored another three runs in the bottom of the third and had a 10-0 lead before Minnesota Morris got on the board with a pair in the top of the fourth. The Cougars loaded the bases courtesy of Tori Nichols-Kraft, Marissa Allen, and Adrianna Johnson with no outs. From there, Lizzy Hanson delivered a sacrifice fly for the first run and Olivia Diver singled to drive in another.

Bethany Lutheran tacked on one more insurance run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 11-2. The Cougars needed a minimum to two runs in the fifth to keep the game going, but a double play hurt their chances and they were unable to plate anyone, finishing things off early.

Game Two: UW-Superior 9, Minnesota Morris 1 (5 innings)
Through three innings, Minnesota Morris and UW-Superior were engaged in a low-scoring battle for the second day running. The Yellowjackets blew things open with a five-run fourth inning however, then added on another three runs in the bottom of the fifth to wrap the game up on a walk-off.

In the top of the first inning, Zoe Thomson singled in Tayler Kraemer to put UW-Superior ahead, 1-0. The Cougars pulled level in the top of the third as Sierra Stevens was walked to lead off the inning. A groundout from Autumn Theis moved Stevens to second and a single from Nichols-Kraft advanced her to third. A fielder's choice groundout from Allen drove in Stevens to knot the score at 1-1.

Things went downhill for the Cougars in the bottom of the fourth when Norah Schmitz doubled to left field to drive in two runs to give UW-Superior a 3-1 lead. Kayla Kraemer added another RBI after that and Tayler Kraemer added another one before the inning was over, increasing the Yellowjacket edge to 6-1. 

That took the wind out of the Minnesota Morris sails and the Cougars went down in order in the top of the fifth. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, UW-Superior connected on four straight hits. The two were another RBI double from Schmitz to make it 7-1 and finally a two-RBI triple off the bat of Olivia Bancroft-Hart to close the game out with UW-Superior leading by eight runs. 

Nichols-Kraft had two hits in the game for Minnesota Morris and Diver had the other. Dummer closed out the season with a record of 11-10 in the circle.