WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team went 1-1 on Sunday to close out the Spring Break trip in the Orlando area. The day started with a 5-0 loss for the Cougars against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, but Minnesota Morris later held on for a 5-4 win over Knox College. UMN Morris will come home with an overall record of 4-12 on the season thus far.

Minnesota Morris will next be in action at home against Concordia College-Moorhead on March 25 at 1 p.m. if weather and field conditions permit.

UW-Platteville 5, Minnesota Morris 0
After four scoreless innings, UW-Platteville put single runs on the board in the fifth and the sixth before putting the game away with three in the seventh.

The breakthrough for the Pioneers came in the top of the fifth when a Cougar error turned a lead-off single into a runner on third with no outs. A sacrifice fly followed to put UW-Platteville on top, 1-0, before Morgan Wilhelm got out of the inning. Another unearned run followed in the sixth as a two-out error brought a runner home.

Minnesota Morris had its best scoring opportunity in the bottom of the sixth when Alice Wilkinson followed a lead-off single with a swipe of second base. On third with one away, Wilkinson ended up stranded as UW-Platteville pitcher Claire Bakkestuen buckled down and retired two hitters on a popout and a groundout.

A Bakkestuen lead-off walk in the seventh followed by consecutive doubles made it 3-0 in favor of the Pioneers. They later added onto their lead with a RBI single and a hit batter to drive in a run with the bases loaded.

Wilhelm threw 6.0 innings and gave up five runs with just three earned. Autumn Theis worked a scoreless inning of relief. Wilkinson, Sierra Stevens, and Tori Nichols had hits in the game for the Cougars.

Minnesota Morris 5, Knox 4
An early lead held up down the stretch for Minnesota Morris despite a late comeback effort from the Prairie Fire. Adrianna Johnson threw a complete game and earned the win to move to 4-4 on the season, with all of Knox's runs being unearned on the afternoon.

The Cougars jumped on top in the top of the first inning. Stevens led off the game with a double and went to third on a groundout from Wilkinson before Mary Landherr hit a ball that was mishandled by the shortstop, bringing Stevens in for a 1-0 lead. 

In the top of the second, Anna Baumann led off with a single and stole second before coming home on a Stevens single. Nichols and Johnson later added RBIs in the inning to make it 4-0.

Knox scored the first of its unearned runs in the bottom of the third, but that was answered by a run from the Cougars in the top of the fourth. Wilkinson singled and stole second before coming home on a Nichols single. 

The Prairie Fire drew one run closer in the bottom of the fifth and an error kept the door open in the bottom of the seventh for Lacey Miller to deliver a two-out double that scored two runs to make it 5-4. With the tying run just 120 feet away, Johnson closed the game out by getting Ally Hyde to ground out to third to finish things off.