Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team defended its home turf on Saturday, earning a pair of hard-fought wins over the University of Northwestern and Crown College. The Cougars came from behind to defeat the Eagles, 9-8, in eight innings in the first game of the day and then broke a tie late in the game with the Polars to win, 5-3. The two wins improve UMN Morris to 13-22 (7-10 UMAC) and put the Cougars in a three-way tie with Crown and Northland College for fourth place in the conference standings.

Minnesota Morris will have a rematch with Northwestern on Tuesday with a doubleheader in St. Paul starting at 3:30 p.m.

Minnesota Morris 9, Northwestern 8 (8 innings)
In a game with numerous twists and turns, Minnesota Morris clawed back from a three-run deficit early on, but then gave away the lead and needed extra innings to ultimately come away with a narrow victory over Northwestern.

The game got off to a rocky start for the Cougars as Northwestern loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first. Autumn Theis ended up allowing one run to score, but it came on a double play that helped Minnesota Morris to get out of the inning nearly unscathed. In the second, the Eagles had three straight two-out singles to load the bases and an error from Minnesota Morris then let two runs in to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the third, Alice Wilkinson reached on an error to start the frame and that opened the floodgates as Minnesota Morris collected four hits and walked three times to plate six runs. Tori Nichols had the first RBI, driving in Wilkinson. Olivia Losee later singled in two runs to level the game at 3-3. Olivia Diver and Wilkinson added RBIs later in the inning as the Cougars went on top, 6-3. 

Theis helped her own cause in the bottom of the fourth with a RBI groundout that scored Mary Landherr and increased the Minnesota Morris advantage to 7-3.

Northwestern overtook the Cougars with five runs in the top of the fifth, chasing Theis from the game and forcing Adrianna Johnson to come on in relief. By the time Johnson got out of the inning, the four-run lead had evaporated and Minnesota Morris was forced to play catch-up yet again, trailing 8-7.

With two outs and no one on in the fifth, Nevaeh Polanco worked a walk and then was moved along by a Sierra Stevens single. Landherr followed that with a RBI single to knot the score at 8-8. 

Both offenses then went quiet until the bottom of the eighth when Minnesota Morris was able to win in walk-off style. Stevens led off the inning with a single and Landherr moved her up a base on a sacrifice bunt. Two straight Northwestern errors loaded the bases with one away and Theis – back in as the designated player – hit a sacrifice fly to score Stevens from third.

Johnson allowed only four hits in 3.2 innings of relief and got the win to move to 7-9 on the season. Stevens, Landherr, Nichols, Losee, and Diver all had two hits in the game. 

Minnesota Morris 5, Crown 3
In the day's second game, it was the Cougars who opened up a 3-0 lead after two innings played, only to see their opponent fight back into it. 

Minnesota Morris scored twice in the bottom of the first, first with Landherr coming home on a wild pitch before Losee drove in Nichols with a single. In the second inning, with runners on the corners, Landherr got into a rundown on the basepaths but it lasted long enough for Stevens to sprint home from third before the tag was applied for the third out, increasing the Cougar lead to 3-0.

Morgan Wilhelm faced the minimum through three innings but Crown got on the board with a RBI double in the fourth. Late in the game, the Polars scored twice with two down in the top of the sixth, suddenly tying the game up at 3-3. 

The tie didn't last for long. Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Polanco launched a ball over the wall in right field for a solo home run that put Minnesota Morris back ahead, 4-3. Later in the frame, Stevens hit a double that drove in Brenna Mahoney from first to give the Cougars a two-run cushion. Bringing in Johnson to wrap up the game, the senior retired the first two she faced before Crown put two aboard. With the go-ahead run at the dish, a pop-up to Olivia Diver at second ended the game and gave Johnson her first save.

Stevens, Landherr, Losee, and Brenna Mahoney all had two hits in the contest. Wilhelm earned the win to improve to 5-8 on the season, striking out four in 6.0 innings