MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team cruised past North Central University, 16-0, in five innings on Friday afternoon on the first day of the UMAC Crossover. The win lifts the Cougars to 11-22 (5-10 UMAC).

With Minnesota Morris serving as the visiting team, the Cougars had the first chance to step up to the plate. A one-out walk by Adrianna Johnson was then followed by a double off the bat of Tori Nichols to make it 1-0. With two down and the bases loaded, Anna Athey was hit by a pitch to score another run, increasing the lead to 2-0. The wind then played a factor as a high pop fly by Olivia Diver was misjudged by the NCU right fielder and fell in for a single while all three runners raced around to score for a 5-0 lead.

The Cougars tacked on another run in the second with a triple from Johnson followed by a RBI double from Nichols. In the third, Anna Athey doubled in pinch-runner and winning pitcher Morgan Wilhelm to make it 7-0 and pinch-hitter Anna Baumann singled in Brenna Mahoney to push the Minnesota Morris lead to 8-0.

With Wilhelm cruising and at one point striking out six straight hitters, the only question was how many runs could the Cougars plate on the afternoon. The answer in the fourth inning was six more, with RBIs from Athey, Brenna Mahoney, Sophie Diver, Ali Gravelle, and Malena Mahoney, taking the margin to 14-0. Baumann and Sophie Diver added RBIs in the top of the fifth, with Baumann's single scoring Madison Ferguson.

Wilhelm cruised to a complete game victory, going 5.0 innings and allowing only two hits while striking out eight Ram batters. Nichols and Brenna Mahoney each had three hits in the game, while five more – Baumann, Johnson, Athey, Alice Wilkinson, and Autumn Theis – all had two hits apiece.

The second day of the UMAC Crossover tomorrow has Minnesota Morris playing the University of Northwestern at 12 p.m. and Crown College at 4 p.m. The entire conference is here in Morris and the softball complex will see a quadruple-header of action on two fields beginning at 10 a.m.