The University of Minnesota Duluth softball team shut down and then shut out Minot State University Thursday in a doubleheader effort that catapulted the Bulldogs into third place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference ahead of the league's last weekend of competition.

UMD defeated the Beavers 2-0 in the first game before holding MSU scoreless again in a 6-0 triumph. The two shutouts bring the Bulldogs to 13 games this season without allowing their opponent a single run.

The lone offense the Bulldogs would need came over two innings and started in the bottom of the second. Nicole Schmitt hit a single to center field and advanced on a passed ball. After Elle Potts singled and advanced Schmitt to third, Schmitt scored on an error by the pitcher for the 1-0 UMD lead. 

In the bottom of the fourth, the Bulldogs doubled that lead, with Schmitt getting on base on an error by the centerfielder and advancing to second. Potts followed it up with a single to second base which allowed Schmitt to score and make it a 2-0 game.

Luoma pitched four innings and threw two strikeouts to improve to 3-3 on the season, while Lauren Dixon pitched the final three innings and added a strikeout. Three players had two hits in the game, including Potts, Khendal Johnson and Dea Deleon.

Game 2 (6-0, UMD win)

UMD's strong pitching and defensive effort carried into the second game, where Dixon picked right back up from where she left off in the first game. After Dixon struck out the first two batters and the Bulldogs made it to the plate with three straight outs, UMD's bats did the damage

After senior Kiana Bender took a walk to get on base, Julia Gronholz hit a single to right field and advanced Bender. Enter junior first baseman Schmitt – currently chasing UMD's single season double record – with a double to deep left field that scored both Bender and Gronholz for the early 2-0 lead. Schmitt, who advanced to third on a passed ball on the next batter, made it 3-0 when she scored off Johnson's double.

Schmitt's double at the top of the first scored two runs, followed up by a double to the center field wall from Khendall Johnson that hit home Schmitt for the early 3-0 lead.

UMD hit another three runs in the bottom of the fifth after Schmitt got on base with a walk. Johnson singled to left field to advance Schmitt, and Kate Mohr's single gave Kat Burkhardt the bases loaded with two outs in the inning. Burkhardt delivered, clearing the bases with a monster double to right center that pushed the Bulldogs lead to 6-0.

From there Allysa Williams took over in the top of the sixth and struck out two MSU batters to hand UMD its second shutout of the afternoon. Dixon earned the win to improve to 20-5, and threw eight strikeouts to bring the Bulldogs combined strikeout total in the game to 10, all the while pitching seven eight innings total for the Bulldogs on the day.

Johnson and Mohr led UMD with two hits (Johnson 2-of-3, Mohr 2-of-2), while Burkahardt had a team-high three RBIs, and Schmitt added two.

The Bulldogs (37-14 overall and 18-8 in NSIC play) will put the wraps on the regular season tomorrow when they host the University of Mary in a Senior Day doubleheader that will get underway on Griggs Field at 12:00 p.m.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD has now amassed 328 team strikeouts and is closing in a the program's single season record for team strikeouts of 339 set in 2022 … Lauren DIxon is sitting at 795 career strikeouts ... Dixon is also hunting down the career innings pitched record of 646 -- Dixon will enter Friday with 633.2 and needs just under 12 innings to take it over ...  head coach Lynn Anderson is also inching closer to her 150th career win … the third-year Bulldog bench boss has now accumulated 144 career coaching wins.