BISMARCK, N.D. - On another windy day in North Dakota, the University of Mary Softball team honored their seniors in a doubleheader against Concordia University-St. Paul, as U-Mary rounded out the weekend festivities.
 
The offense came up big for the Marauders (22-27, 11-12 NSIC) as they took both games against the Golden Bears (16-31, 10-14 NSIC), first with a 10-1 win in game one that had an offensive explosion in the first two innings for U-Mary, and then with a 17-13 barnburner where the Marauders battled back from a 10-3 deficit to come away with the victory.
 
The first game was a result of solid pitching, combined with a stout defense and potent offense, as Nena Dudley got the start in the circle for U-Mary. Teona Zepeda led the game off with a walk after battling with Dudley for nine pitches, Nicole Thompson followed that up with a push bunt over the head of a charging Kristin Ormsby and the Golden Bears were sitting pretty with runners at first and second with nobody out.
 
During Jamie Fleischhacker's at bat, there was a errant pitch that got away from Colleen Crutchfield, who was starting behind the plate, but she gathered herself long enough to throw out Zepeda on the way to third base for the first out of the inning. Dudley settled down after that as the wind was making it difficult to hit the strike zone, but forced a fly ball to right field from Fleischhaker and struck out Haley Schanks looking on three straight pitches.
 
The bottom of the first was a different story, as Concordia-St. Paul's starting pitcher, Linzy Heim, sat down the first two Marauder batters on a groundball and a popup. Taylor Mendez came up to bat with two outs and got the rally going with a solo shot over the center field fence that had some help from the wind coming out from behind home plate. Demaree Rodriguez followed that up with a single through the left side and stole second base during Julissa Perales' at bat, and Perales doubled over the centerfielder's head on a 1-1 pitch to score Rodriguez and put the score at 2-0. Crutchfield put the exclamation point on the first inning with a two-run blast in the next at bat that put the score at 4-0 in favor of the Marauders heading into the second inning.
 
Liz Jarosz led the top of the second off with another walk, but Dudley insisted on keeping the Golden Bears scoreless as she struck out the next batter, forced a ground out, and struck out the final batter of the inning to keep U-Mary's lead at 4-0. The Marauders really opened up the scoring in the bottom half of the inning when Erin Keen sent a shot to right center field and ended up with a stand up double. With one out, Alana Norman took the first pitch she saw down the left field line for a double of her own to trade places with Keen and gave U-Mary a 5-0 lead. Mendez kept her production up with a single to the shortstop and beat out the errant throw, and Norman was able to score on the error. Rodriguez was hit during her at bat and Perales brought everyone home with a three-run jack over the left field fence to put the Marauders up 9-0 on the Golden Bears. U-Mary got one more run in the inning when Crutchfield doubled to right center field, stole third base, and scored on a groundball from Amber Gamboa to extend the lead to 10-0.
 
By now, Dudley settled into a groove and kept the Golden Bears scoreless through three innings but Concordia-St. Paul got one run in the top of the fourth when Emily Shinn laced a double to right center field to score Lizzy Swenson from third base and put the score at 10-1. That was all the Golden Bears could muster in the first game as Dudley capped off the top of the fifth inning by forcing a groundout from the lead off batter and struck out the next two to end the game and make the score final at 10-1.
 
Four Marauder batters finished the game with two hits; Perales had the most productive with a double and home run, along with four RBI, two runs scored, and one walk.
 
Crutchfield also had a double and a home run to go with two RBI, two runs scored, and a stolen base.
 
Mendez finished with a single and a home run, with one RBI, and two runs scored.
 
Dudley was the final batter with two hits as she got a single and a double, but was more effective in the circle as she held the Golden Bears to five hits in five innings pitched along with six strikeouts and only three walks given up.
 
The second game of the day turned out to be a slugfest as there were 30 runs scored on 33 hits between the two teams, but the Marauders were the ones who came out on top after facing an early deficit.
 
With her performance in the first game still fresh in her mind, Mendez got U-Mary on the board in the bottom of the first with another solo home run to put the Marauders up 1-0.
 
Concordia-St. Paul wouldn't be dismayed this time as they responded in the top of the second with an RBI single from Thompson that scored Elena Koncar from third base, followed up with Sarah Kivisto scoring on a failed pickoff attempt on Thompson in the following at bat. After Fleischhacker drew a walk, Schanks opened up the scoring with a three-run blast over the left field fence to give the Golden Bears a 5-1 lead and forced MeLanie Rodriguez to enter the game in relief for Dudley, who also got the start in the second game.
 
The Marauders got two runs back in the bottom of the second with Perales led the inning off with a single to right center field, stole second, and ended up at third on a Crutchfield single to right field. Gamboa brought in Perales on a single through the left side while Crutchfield ended up at third base on some heads up base running. Crutchfield eventually scored on a passed ball to cut the lead down to 5-3 heading into the top of the third inning.
 
Concordia-St. Paul wouldn't stop their offensve outburst as Kivisto singled to center field in the top of the third to score Shinn and Swensen, only to be followed up with a bunt single from Zepeda, and an RBI single from Thompson. Fleischhacker singled on the ground to third base to score Zepeda, and Thompson scored the tenth run for the Golden Bears on a passed ball, and by the time the dust finally settled, the Marauders were facing a 10-3 deficit heading into the bottom of the third.
 
So naturally they got to work at the plate in the bottom half of the inning when Mendez tripled to right center field on a deep fly ball that was just short of becoming a home run. After a pitch hit Perales in her at bat, Crutchfield came up and sent a two-out RBI single to left field to score Mendez. Gamboa brought in both Crutchfield and Perales on a single to center field, but was caught in a run down between first and second after trying to stretch her hit into a double, but the Marauders cut the Golden Bear lead down to 10-6 anyways.
 
MeLanie found a good rhthym starting in the fourth inning as she sat the Concordia batters down in order, and U-Mary kept the pressure on the Golden Bears in the bottom of the fourth.
 
Keen started the rally with a one-out single back up the middle, Ormsby moved her to second base on a groundball to the third baseman and Norman brought her in on a two-out double to left center field. A pitch hit Mendez during her at bat and a double steal in the next at bat moved both runners into scoring position for Demaree Rodriguez. Demaree responded with a double to center field that scored both runners, Perales kept the momentum going with a single to right field to put runners at the corners, and Crutchfield took advantage of a Golden Bear miscue as she reached on an error by the first baseman that scored Rodriguez.
 
Gamboa provided the big punch to swing the momentum in favor of U-Mary as she sent a three-run shot over the center field fence, Dudley reached on an error by the second baseman, and the inning finally came to an end after Keen drove her in with a single to right field, but was caught trying to advance to third base on a fielding error by the right fielder. When everything was said and done, the Marauders had turned the tables on Concordia-St. Paul and went into the fifth inning with a 14-10 lead.
 
The Golden Bears got two runs back during the next half inning as Zepeda drove in Kivisto on a single up the middle, and Fleischhaker brought in Zepeda on a sacrifice fly to center field to cut into U-Mary's lead at 14-12.
 
Mendez delivered the cherry on top of the offensive sundae in the fifth inning, however, as she sent a three-run blast to straight away center field to score Ormsby and Norman that gave the Marauders some insurance runs at 17-12. The Golden Bears had one last gasp in the top of the sixth when Zepeda reached on an error by the third baseman that allowed Shinn to score.
 
That ended up being the last runs scored as Keen, who came in to relieve MeLanie Rodriguez starting in the sixth inning, struck out the lead off batter in the top of the seventh for Concordia-St. Paul, gave up a single to Schanks, and struck out the final two batters to finalize the score at 17-13.
 
Six Marauders registered multiple hits in the second game, and they were lead by Gamboa who finished with a perfect 4-for-4 with three singles, one home run, six RBI, and one run scored.
 
Mendez was also perfect at 3-for-3 with two home runs, a triple, four RBI, four runs scored, and a stolen base in the game.
 
In addition to her strong relief performance, Keen also finished with three hits, two singles and a double, to go with one run scored in the game.
 
Norman had a solid performance in the second game as she got two hits, a single and a double, with one RBI, one run scored, and one stolen base.
 
Perales finished with two hits, both singles, along with two runs scored and a stolen base.
 
Crutchfield was the final batter for U-Mary to record multiple hits as she finished with two singles, three runs scored, and one RBI.
 
The Marauders will have their final home doubleheader on April 22, when they host the University of Minnesota Crookston starting at 2 PM.
 
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