WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team split a pair of contests for the third straight time on Thursday. Early on, the Cougars raced out to a comfortable lead and held on for an 8-4 victory over Beloit College. Minnesota Morris then unraveled defensively in game two, allowing Cornell College to post an 11-4 win. The results put the Cougars at 3-9 overall on the season.

Minnesota Morris takes on Colby College in a doubleheader tomorrow in Winter Haven, Fla. beginning at 2 p.m. (EDT).

Minnesota Morris 8, Beloit 4
A five-run third inning for Minnesota Morris provided much of the difference on Thursday morning. Adrianna Johnson went the distance and gave up only three hits while striking out two to move to 3-3 on the season.

Minnesota Morris jumped on top early, scoring in the bottom of the first. Alice Wilkinson was hit by a pitch and then stole second before Mary Landherr connected on a double to drive her home for a 1-0 lead.

Beloit came back to tie the score at 1-1 in the top of the second with a sacrifice fly, but Johnson buzzed through the top of the third and the Cougar offense got to work in the bottom of the inning. Brenna Mahoney led off with a single followed by a walk to Sierra Stevens, ending the day of the Buccaneer starting pitcher. After a double steal and a walk to Landherr to load the bases, Tori Nichols singled home a pair. Johnson was later hit by a pitch to score another run while the bases were juiced. More wildness from the Beloit reliever saw Anna Athey score on a wild pitch before a sacrifice fly from Olivia Losee made it 6-1.

A pair of two-out walks and a double gave Beloit some life as two runs scored in the top of the fifth to slice the deficit to 6-3, but Minnesota Morris answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom half. Nichols and Johnson were aboard with two outs in the inning when Losee delivered a two-RBI double to increase the cushion to 8-3. 

Johnson once again went 1-2-3 through the Buccaneer order in the sixth and then held Beloit to one run in the seventh to wrap up the victory. 

Nichols had two hits and two RBIs in the game, while Losee drove in three for the Cougars.

Cornell 11, Minnesota Morris 4
Errors were at the heart of a seven-run loss to Cornell to wrap up the day. The Cougars were charged with five as a team and only three of the runs that the Rams scored in the game were earned.

The contest started well for Minnesota Morris as Landherr hit a two-out double in the top of the first and Nichols drove her in with a single. However, two errors in the bottom of the first opened the floodgates as Cornell took the lead despite not notching a hit in the inning.

The Rams added one of their few earned runs in the bottom of the second to make it 3-1. Minnesota Morris came back with a run in the top of the third thanks to a lead-off single from Stevens and a RBI single from Landherr before tying it in the top of the fourth as Anna Athey led off with a triple and Olivia Diver singled her in to make it 3-3.

Cornell put the game away for all intents and purposes in the bottom of the fourth, scoring seven runs on six hits and a Cougar error. Though Losee singled in Malena Mahoney in the top of the fifth, that only cut the margin to 10-4 and the Rams added another run in the bottom of the sixth on another Minnesota Morris error to finish it off.

Morgan Wilhelm took the loss for the Cougars though she gave up just the three earned runs in her 4.0 innings. Autumn Theis threw the final 2.0 innings, striking out two and allowing a single unearned run. Minnesota Morris actually had a 14-11 advantage in total hits in the contest. Nichols was 3-for-3 at the plate, while Stevens, Landherr, Losee, and Athey all collected two hits apiece.