The Northland College Softball team opened Upper Midwest Athletic Conference(UMAC) play Saturday with a pair of wins in the UMAC crossover in Vadnais Heights, Minn.  In their opening game the LumberJills topped Bethany Lutheran College 9-3 and then edged Crown College 8-7.

In the opener the LumberJills jumped out to a 5-0 lead scoring two runs in the first inning and three in the second.  Kaitlyn Witthun (So., Cambria Wis.) started the game with a leadoff home run.  Jayna Loy (Sr., Ontario, Calif.) followed with a double and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Averi Kanyuh (Fr., Rapid River, Mich.).  Brigid Reina (Jr., Garden City, N.Y.) started the three run second inning by leading off with a single, one of her three hits on the day.  After trailing 5-0 Bethany slowly climbed back into the game, scoring one unearned run in the third and two more in the fifth.  However the LumberJills pulled away scoring one in the sixth and three in the seventh.  Faye Koosman (So., Mellen, Wis.) led of the seventh by drawing a walk, then following a Kanyuh double Carolyn Malecha (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.) doubled both of them home and scored herself on a Reina base hit.  Jayna Loy picked up the win, going the distance giving up just three unearned runs while striking out five.

In the second game of the day Crown College jumped out to a three run lead in the top of the first inning.  Northland got one back in the bottom of the frame on back to back doubles by Loy and Cassie Baumgarten (So., Becker, Minn.).  The Jills tied the game in the bottom of the third scoring two unearned runs.  Crown however came right back with two runs in the top of the fourth.  Northland pulled to within one in the bottom of the frame when Reina doubled and scored on Witthun's RBI groundout.  However Crown pushed their lead to three again scoring two in the top of the fifth. Northland once again pulled within one 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth when Crystal Diaz (Fr., Burbank, Calif.) ripped a two RBI single.  In the bottom of the sixth Northland took a lead when Loy doubled home Kelsey Bodart (So., Oconto, Wis.) and then scored on an RBI ground ball by Koosmann.  Loy picked up the win in relief.

"I was happy with how we played today, different players stepped up at different times." said Head Coach Steve Wammer, "Brigid did a great job helping us create runs in the bottom part of the order going 4-7."

BLC Box

Crown Box