MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team dropped a pair of UMAC contests to Martin Luther College on Tuesday at Big Cat Stadium. The two losses put the Cougars at 10-22 (4-10 UMAC) on the season.

Coming up this weekend, Minnesota Morris is hosting the second of two UMAC Crossover events. The entire conference will descend on Morris on Friday and Saturday with each team playing three games. First up for the Cougars on Friday is a 2 p.m. game with Crown College.

Game 1: Martin Luther 6, Minnesota Morris 3
The theme of Tuesday's games for Minnesota Morris seemed to be hard-hit balls that headed straight to Martin Luther fielders. Jessica Horn picked up the first of two wins in the circle for the Knights not by avoiding contact, but my letting her defense do the work behind her. That started in the bottom of the first when Sierra Stevens led off the game for the Cougars with a triple but was tagged out at home on the next play. 

Minnesota Morris would leave two runners stranded in the bottom of the first and two more in the second. That kept the game scoreless until the top of the third when three straight singles from Martin Luther loaded the bases and Lisa Hoffer ripped a two-run double. Later in the inning, a Cougar error plated more runs to put Martin Luther ahead, 4-0. 

The deficit momentarily awakened the Minnesota Morris offense and Anna Baumann hit a two-out double to score Tori Nichols. Autumn Theis then followed with a single to bring Baumann home and slice the MLC lead in half at 4-2.

The Cougars missed out on another run-scoring opportunity in the fourth, while Martin Luther cashed in with two runs in the top of the fifth to bring Adrianna Johnson's game in the circle to a close. Theis came on in relief and threw 2.2 scoreless innings, but Minnesota Morris was unable to make up the gap. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Baumann connected on another RBI double, but the game ended one batter later.

Nichols was 3-for-4 at the plate, while Baumann, Theis, and Nevaeh Polanco all had two hits.

Game 2: Martin Luther 7, Minnesota Morris 4
After her success in the first game, Theis went the distance in the second game but took the loss as Minnesota Morris scored only four runs despite manufacturing 13 hits against Horn.

Martin Luther drove in the first run of the game in the top of the second inning, but Minnesota Morris was able to respond with a run in the bottom of the third on a Mary Landherr RBI single.

The tie game didn't last long as the Knights quickly put together five hits in the top of the fourth to score three runs and take a 4-1 lead.

The Cougars responded with a run in the bottom of the inning with a Polanco double putting Malena Mahoney on third. Olivia Diver then lofted a sac fly to right to bring the runner home from third. Polanco and Diver combined for consecutive ground-rule doubles in the bottom of the sixth to score another run and get Minnesota Morris within a run at 4-3.

With two outs in the top of the seventh, Martin Luther was able to add an insurance run on a RBI single. One batter later, Jordyn Heckendorf homered to left to increase the lead to 7-3 for the Knights. A two-out rally from Minnesota Morris in the bottom of the inning scored a run on a single from Baumann and brought the tying run to the plate before Horn and the Knights finished things off.

Landherr, Nichols, Johnson, and Polanco all had two hits in the game for the Cougars. Theis (1-5) struck out two in her 7.0 innings.