ASHLAND, Wis. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team was back in action for the first time in 19 days on Friday, but the Cougars never missed a beat in a 14-1 romp in five innings over Northland College. Minnesota Morris now runs its winning streak to five games and is 11-9 overall on the season with a 1-0 UMAC record.

After a scoreless first inning, Minnesota Morris put its foot on the gas with a five-run second inning that was aided by three Northland errors. Two of those errors helped to load the bases and Anna Athey worked a two-out walk to make it 1-0. Sierra Stevens followed that with a hit into right that bounced in front of the fielder and then spun away on the turf, allowing all three runs to score. Stevens would later steal home to make it 5-0.

Following a 1-2-3 inning from Alyssa Thornton (5-3) in the second, Skyla Bristol led off the third with a solo home run to increase the margin to 6-0. More errors followed from the LumberJills as Minnesota Morris finished the inning with four hits, four Northland errors, two walks, a hit batter, and three stolen bases. All those factors combined into nine runs scoring for the Cougars in the inning as the bulge grew to 14-0.

Thornton left the game in the third inning and gave way to Morgan Wilhelm who finished things off over the final 2.1 innings. Northland managed one run in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly, but the game was in no danger of being extended past that inning as the Cougars got the win via the run rule.

Minnesota Morris and Northland conclude their three-game series tomorrow with a doubleheader in Ashland beginning at 2 p.m.