It was a tale of two games for the University of Minnesota Duluth softball team Saturday at Nemzek Softball Field in Moorhead, Minn. against Moorhead State University, Moorhead, with the Bulldogs taking game one 6-3 before stumbling to the Dragons in a 3-1 game two loss.

UMD put up eight hits against the MSUM the first game and five in game two, while the Dragons mustered five in both outings.

Game 1 (6-3, UMD win)

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning after Kate Mohr's single up the middle scored Khendal Johnson, who had doubled at the plate as the batter before. The Dragons took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the inning, capitalizing on a UMD error, a walk and a batter hit by a pitch to go up 2-1.

But the Bulldogs bats came to life in the third, kicked off with three hits, including a single by Kiana Bender that scored Dea Deleon and a double by Nicole Schmitt that scored both Bender and Julia Gronholz, who had gotten on base with a walk. The double, Schmitt's 17th of the season, gave the first baseman two RBIs and returned the 4-2 lead to UMD.

The Bulldogs added to that lead in the top of the fourth when Kat Burkhardt (also on base off a walk) scored when Morgan McMillan singled to left and advanced to second. MSUM scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning to pull within two runs (5-3), but UMD would tack on a sixth run in the top of the fifth. Gronholz tripled to right field and then scored on a fly out from Schmitt to seal the 6-3 eventual final score. 

Schmitt led UMD with two hits on a 2-of-3 from the plate statline, and had a game-high three RBIs. Lauren Dixon threw 14 strikeouts in the 76th complete game of her career. The senior pitcher is now 18-5 on the season, and is now one game away from 100 for her career.

Game 2 (3-1 MSUM win)

After the Dragons took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, Gronholz dropped a hit into shallow right to score Bender from second to equalize the contest in the top of the third.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, it was the lone run they would score in game, and surrendered runs in both the bottom of the third and sixth inning to suffer a 3-1 final setback.

Allyssa Williams took on the loss from the mound (4-4), and pitched three innings with four shutouts against 13 batters. Maddy Walsh also threw for three innings, posting two shutouts. Five Bulldogs had a hit in the game – McMillian, Gronholz, Schmitt, Elle Potts and Burkhardt.

The Bulldogs (33-14, 14-8) will look to regroup tomorrow when they face Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D. with a NSIC doubleheader that will get underway at 12:00 p.m. for the first game and 2:00 p.m. for the second contest.