DULUTH, Minn. - Heading into the final weekend of conference play, the University of Mary Softball team took on the University of Minnesota Duluth in a crucial doubleheader for U-Mary as both teams are looking to secure a spot in the conference tournament.
 
The Marauders (24-29, 13-14 NSIC) had the lead in the first game before miscues allowed the Bulldogs (31-20, 15-13 NSIC) to surge back ahead in the final inning and secure the 8-6 win in walk-off fashion, and the life left U-Mary's bats in the second game as Duluth came away with the sweep in a 13-1 victory.
 
The first few innings of the first game told a different tale for the Marauders as they wasted little time in getting on the board first in an unusual setting as the games were played on a fenced off portion of the Minnesota Duluth football field.
 
Alana Norman got the ball rolling with a one-out single to the shortstop and beat the throw into first base. She advanced to second on a groundball from Taylor Mendez in the following at bat and eventually scored on a single from Demaree Rodriguez through the right side to put U-Mary on top at 1-0.
 
Colleen Crutchfield drew a walk in the following at bat and Julissa Perales brought Rodriguez in on an RBI single to center field, advancing Crutchfield to third base in the process. Crutchfield scored in the following at bat thanks to a delayed steal from Perales and by the time the top of the first inning was over, the Marauders were looking at a 3-0 lead.
 
Minnesota Duluth got one run back in the bottom of the first Sami Schnyder sent a sacrifice fly ball to deep center field that scored Hannah Schmoll from third base and cut U-Mary's lead down to 3-1 heading into the top of the second. The Marauders, however, would respond in kind in following half inning.
 
Nena Dudley led the inning off with a swinging strikeout, but reached first base safely on a wild pitch in an odd turn of events. After stealing second, Dudley reached third base on a groundball from Erin Keen, and Kristin Ormsby brought her home with a two-run shot over the right center field fence to extend U-Mary's lead to 5-1 heading into the bottom of the second.
 
Dudley, who got the start in the circle for the Marauders, found a groove in the bottom half of the inning after striking out two Bulldogs and forcing an easy groundball to first base for the final out. U-Mary added one more run to their total in the top of the third when Crutchfield led the inning off with a single to left field, stole second, and reached third on a dropped third strike throw out. She eventually scored on a groundball single back to the pitcher from Dudley to give the Marauders a 6-1 lead.
 
Dudley kept the pressure on the Bulldogs in the third and fourth innings after striking out two and forcing a slew of groundballs and fly outs from several others to keep the score at 6-1.
 
Then the momentum started to change.
 
U-Mary had several base runners through the remainder of the game but failed to move them across the plate. Meanwhile, Minnesota Duluth cut into U-Mary's lead starting in the bottom of the fifth when Schnyder and Becky Smith led the inning off with back-to-back doubles, the second of which scored Schnyder, to reduce the Marauders' lead down to 6-2. The Bulldogs got one more in the inning when Ashley Schilling laced a double to left field that scored Jordan Rice and halved U-Mary's score at 6-3.
 
The Marauders had two more base runners in the top of the sixth inning along with one more in the seventh, but the offensive stalled as they could get any runners across home plate.
 
The seventh inning is where the wheels fell off the wagon.
 
Back-to-back walks from Smith and Rice led the inning off as the tying run came to the plate in the form of Alexia Klaas with nobody out, but Dudley forced a fly out from Klaas for the first out of the inning. The key moment came when Schilling came up to bat next and sent a groundball to second base that was mishandled and allowed everybody to advance and load the bases up with only one out.
 
Ashley Lewis drew the third walk of the inning to move a runner across and put the score at 6-4, and Abbey Nelson grounded out to second base in the following at bat for the second out of the inning, but still managed to score Rice and cut the Marauders lead down to one run at 6-5. The straw that broke the camel's back came in the form of Natalie Wright who ended the game with one swing of the bat as she sent a deep fly ball over the right center field fence to bring everybody home and made the score, 8-6, final.
 
Ormsby, Norman, and Mendez led u-Mary at the plate, as all three finished the game with two hits. Ormsby had a single and a home run to go with her two RBI and one run scored; Norman had two singles and a stolen base in addition to her one run scored; finally, Mendez had two singles and two stolen bases in the game.
 
Despite being credited with the loss, Dudley still pitched a solid 6.1 innings as she only gave up one earned run and six hits while striking out seven and walking two.
 
In a tale of two games, what offense the Marauders had in game one was seemingly absent in game two as they only managed four hits on the backend of the doubleheader.
 
Minnesota Duluth wasn't bit by the bug, however, as they managed 13 runs on 12 hits through the first four innings in the eventual 13-1 victory in a shortened five-inning game.
 
The one run for U-Mary came from none other than MeLanie Rodriguez, who battled starting pitcher Sam Hartmann to a full count on five pitches and sent the sixth over the center field fence for a solo-shot that spoiled Hartmann's shutout bid.
 
The three other hits in the game came from Mendez, Keen, and Dudley, and all were singles.
 
The Marauders will wrap up the regular season tomorrow when they visit St. Cloud State University for the final doubleheader of the conference schedule. As it stands now, U-Mary is 10th in conference and owns a half-game lead over Minot State University and St. Cloud State.
 
Since Minot State split with St. Cloud State today, these are the following scenarios for the Marauders to make the conference tournament (top 10 teams are invited):
 
If Minot State sweeps Minnesota Duluth, then U-Mary will need to sweep St. Cloud State.
 
If Minot State splits with Minnesota Duluth, then U-Mary will need to split with St. Cloud State.
 
If Minot State is swept by Minnesota Duluth, then U-Mary will need to split with St. Cloud State.
 
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