The Northland College softball team advanced to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) championship with a 8-0 win over UM –Morris in an elimination game.  After two scoreless frames the LumberJills got on the board with three runs in the top of the third inning.  Kaitlyn Witthun (So., Cambria, Wis.) led off with a double and Jayna Loy (Sr., Ontario, Wis.) reached on a fielder's choice.  Averi Kanyuh (Fr., Rapid River, Mich), Brigid Reina (Jr., Garden City N.Y.) and Callie Kopp (Fr., Schaumburg, Ill.) all had RBI base hits in the inning.  Northland added two more runs in the fourth when Briana Tody (Fr., Ashland, Wis.), Witthun, Loy, Cassie Baumgarten (So., Becker, Minn.) and Reina all singled.  In the sixth the Jills extended the lead by three more.  Witthun led off the inning with a double, then following a Loy single Baumgarten blasted a three run home run over the center field fence.
 
Witthun, Loy, Baumgarten, and Reina all had multiple hits in the LumberJills 13 hit attack.  Loy picked up the win giving up no runs on five hits, striking out five while walking none.
 
"We really hit the ball today and played great defense."  Said Head Coach Steve Wammer, "It is always exciting to play in a championship game and we are looking forward to it tomorrow."
 
Northland will face the College of St. Scholastica at noon.  St. Scholastica has appeared in 12 of the last 13 UMAC Championship games.  Northland is no stranger to UMAC championship games.  During Wammer's 13 year tenure as head coach at Northland, the LumberJills have appeared in six championships (winning in 2008).  This is second most behind St. Scholastica, no other team has more than three appearances and no other coach has more than two.  There has not been a LumberJill who played for four years that hasn't played in a UMAC championship game.
 
"This is a goal of our program, to play in championship games." Wammer commented. "We talk about it when we recruit as well as with our team."

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