BISMARCK, N.D. - The pink chalk outlining the field served as a backdrop for the University of Mary as they took on Minnesota State University in a Northern Sun doubleheader  for U-Mary's Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
 
The Marauders (20-27, 9-11 NSIC) leaned on solid pitching from Nena Dudley and a blast from Taylor Mendez in the first game for a 2-1 victory over the Mavericks (30-18, 15-7 NSIC), but Minnesota State came out firing the long ball in the second game to secure the 9-3 victory as U-Mary split the day's games.
 
Both teams brought out their ace pitchers in the first game as Libby Bemis got the start in the circle for the Mavericks with her 14-3 record, while Dudley was making her 30th start for the Marauders with a 15-13 record.
 
Tatum Klein led the game off with a walk and stole second base during Emily Bransky's at bat, but Dudley was sure to keep her away from home by striking out Bransky, forcing a foul fly ball down the right field line from Dana Mogren, and a fly ball to right field from Ashley Thell to end the inning.
 
Kristin Ormsby wasted little time with the first hit in the game as she took the first pitch she saw into center field, but she was stranded at first base as Bemis forced a popup in the infield from Alana Norman, a fly out from Mendez, and got Demaree Rodriguez swinging to got into the top of the second with the score even at 0-0.
 
The Mavericks got two hits in the top half of the second inning, but Dudley ensured nobody got further than third base as the final out came on a fly ball to center field from Chelsea Riordan. Bemis responded in kind in the bottom of the second, despite a two-out single from Amber Gamboa, as game remained scoreless heading into the third.
 
Minnesota State ended the scoring drought in the top of the third when Klein led the inning off with a single up the middle and advanced to second a wild pitch during the next at bat. Bransky followed that up with a walk that gave the Mavericks two runners on with nobody out.
 
Mogren laced a single to center field that scored Klein and gave Minnesota State a 1-0 lead, but Thell grounded the second pitch in her at bat to Ormsby, who was at third base in the game, and Kristin got the lead runner out on the force for the fielder's choice. Dudley picked herself up by forcing a popup from Molly Sage in the next at bat, and despite Jess Meidl drawing the two-out walk to load the bases, Dudley ended the inning by getting Samantha Buhmann to fly out to straight away center field, keeping the score at 1-0 in favor of Minnesota State.
 
The Marauders were unable to get the run back in the bottom of the third, but Dudley found her groove in the top of the fourth as she only needed nine pitches to get three groundouts from the Mavericks.
 
Mendez got U-Mary on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning as she took the first pitch she saw deep to right center field to tie the game up with her team leading 10th home run of the season. Demaree followed that up with a double to center field and Julissa Perales singled on a bunt to put runners at the corners with nobody out.
 
The momentum appeared to be on the Marauders side, but the Maverick defense was sure to shut that down quickly as Colleen Crutchfield sent a fly ball to left field that would seemingly score Lex Hubbard, who was pinch running for Rodriguez, from third base, but the left fielder, Bransky, threw Hubbard out at home for an unconventional double play. Perales was able to advanced up to third base on a pass ball, but the rally fell short as Bemis forced a fly ball from Gamboa to end the threat. Despite the sudden shift, the Marauders still had the game tied at 1-1 against the third place team in conference.
 
Dudley kept her solid pitching performance up as the Mavericks managed only one base runner in the top of the fifth, and U-Mary finally managed to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Erin Keen sent a hard shot groundball through the right side to put a runner at first with one out for the Marauders. After Keen stole second base, Ormsby took the fourth pitch of her at bat to deep right center field. The ball was laced on a line and hit about a foot below the top of the fence, just narrowly missing out on becoming the second home run of the day for U-Mary. Instead, Ormsby ended up at second base with a double and Keen crossed the plate to give U-Mary a 2-1 lead.
 
After another popup for the second out, Mendez singled to left field with Ormsby getting the green light to go home. The Maverick defense came up big again as Bransky's throw in from the outfield beat the runner into the plate to end the inning and keep the score at 2-1 going into the sixth.
 
At this point, Dudley became nigh unhittable as she forced a fly out, groundout, and strikeout in 13 pitches to keep the Maverick offense off balance in the top of the sixth, but Bemis managed to settle down in the bottom of the inning as she got the Marauders out in order.
 
Dudley stayed in the game in the top of the seventh, looking for her 14th complete game of the year, and earned it after forcing three groundball outs despite one of the Maverick batters reaching on an error. The final score was 2-1 in game one.
 
Dudley only gave up five hits in seven innings as she also struck out two to put her season total at 180.
 
Ormsby finished the game with two hits, a single and a double, with the critical go-ahead RBI and provided a steady glove in the field once again for the Marauders.
 
Mendez also finished with two hits, a single and a home run, with one run scored and one RBI.
 
Keen scored the other run for U-Mary as she got a single and a stolen base on the day.
 
Between the games, the Marauders passed out flowers to players and coaches who have known someone that has been affected by breast cancer.
 
The second game turned out to be a different animal as the Mavericks got on the board early in the first inning, Klein led the game off with a single to shortstop and beat out the throw, stole second base, and advanced to third on a passed ball. Mogren brought her in with a single through the left side and ended up stealing second base as well.
 
The big statement came during Meidl's at bat as she sent a three-run shot over the center field fence to give Minnesota State a 4-0 lead in the first inning, only to be followed up by a solo shot from Mandi Mauch in the very next at bat to make it 5-0.
 
U-Mary got a run back in the bottom of the first with Mendez's second solo home run of the day over the right field fence, but that was all the Marauders could muster to cut the lead down to 5-1.
 
It wasn't enough the stem the tide from Minnesota State as Mogren brought in two more with a two-run home run to left center field that put the Maverick's lead back up to 7-1 heading into the bottom of the second.
 
Perales led off U-Mary's at bat with a single back up the middle, but she couldn't get past second base during the inning as Coley Ries, Minnesota State's starting pitcher, struck the next two Marauders out and followed up a walk to Dudley with another strikeout to end the inning.
 
Keen came in to relieve the Marauder's starting pitcher, MeLanie Rodriguez, in the third inning and she responded solidly by forcing a popup from Molly Sager, a fly out from Meidl, and strikeout on Mandi Mauch.
 
U-Mary struggled to cut further into the lead as Keen didn't give up a run to Minnesota State through the fifth inning, but the Marauders got another one back of a solo jack from Demaree Rodriguez to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning to close in on the Maverick lead at 7-2.
 
Minnesota State got the run back in the top of the sixth when Meidl led the inning off with a single back up the middle, stole second base, and scored on a two-out single up the middle from Alyssa Rickels to re-extend their lead back to 8-2. U-Mary was unable to add any more runs to their total in the bottom of the sixth and the Mavericks got one more when Thell doubled off the center field wall to score Bransky from second base, and the Marauders were looking at a hill lto climb with the score at 9-2 in favor of Minnesota State heading into the bottom of the seventh.
 
Katie Koponen came in to relieve Ries in the seventh inning for the Mavericks and U-Mary had some momentum going when Gamboa reached on an error by the second baseman with one out. Unfortunately some controvery made it's way into the game when Dudley reached on a fielder's choice during the next at bat even though Alexandra McDermott, who was pinch running for Gamboa, seemingly beat the throw in at second base but the umpire called her out.
 
So with two outs, the Marauders started to get a rally going when Keen singled to right field that advanced Dudley up to third base, and Ormsby brought her home with a single to left field and advanced to second on the throw to the plate. Yet the rally was stopped dead in its tracks when the starting shortstop for the Mavericks, Mogren, fielded a hard shot ground ball from Norman and threw her out on the run to end the game and make the score final at 9-3.
 
Ormsby followed up her performance in the first game with two more hits, both singles, along with one RBI and another steady performance in the field, this time at shortstop.
 
Mendez and Demaree Rodriguez both finished with just one home run, while Mendez continued to be a ball magnet at the plate as a pitch hit her.
 
Keen pitched five innings in relief for U-Mary while giving up only five hits and two runs with three strikeouts.
 
The Marauders will round out the weekend tomorrow with a doubleheader against Concordia University-St. Paul starting at 12 PM, for Senior Day.
 
#marauders#