Prior to this weekend, Natalie Wright had never hit a walk-off home run at any level of play. That is one thing the University of Minnesota Duluth rookie second baseman can now cross off her bucket list.

With two outs and the Bulldogs trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Wright sent a 2-1 pitch over the right center field fence to give UMD a much-needed 8-6 victory over the University of Mary in the front end of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader. The host Bulldogs went on to throttle the Maruader 13-1 in five innings in the rematch and improve to 31-20 overall and 15-13 in the NSIC with two regular season games remaining.

"It felt great," said Wright, who now has five homers on the season and is batting .378 with two outs (and .296 overall). "I was kind of struggling with my hitting early in the game it was nice to help the team  with that hit."

Mary (24-29 overall; 13-14 NSIC) scored three times in its first at bats in the opener and took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning before the UMD mounted its comeback. Three different Bulldogs hit doubles in the fifth, including freshman shortstop Becky Smith and junior right fielder Ashley Schilling, who each drove in a run. The Bulldogs entered the seventh inning down 6-3 and opened with back-to-back walks to Smith and senior first baseman Jordan Rice. Following a fly out, Schilling reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases and junior catcher Ashley Lewis drew a walk to bring in Smith. Rice then scored when junior designated hitter Abbey Nelson grounded out to second base, setting the table for Wright's heroics. Both Schilling and freshman center fielder Hannah Schmoll had two of UMD's eight hits (five of which were doubles. Junior Cayli Sadler (17-10) scattered 12 hits and struck out seven en route to posting her career-high 19th complete game of the year.

In game two, the Bulldogs led 1-0 after the opening inning and then erupted for five runs in each of the next two innings. Two Bulldogs had multi-hit games -- Schmoll went 3-for-4 to hike her team-leading batting average to .413 and junior third baseman Sami Schnyder was 2-for-3 (with three RBI) -- while freshman designated hitter Alexia Klaas also drove in four runs. Sophomore lefthander Sam Hartmann (13-10) started and threw four innings of two-hit ball before being relieved in the fifth inning by freshman Sadie Knudson.

"These two wins were huge," said Bulldog head coach Jen Banford. "Mary was one of the teams we are battling with for a spot in the NSIC Tournament so we really needed this sweep."

UMD will close out the 2015 regular season with a pair of NSIC clashes against Minot State University beginning at 1 p.m. at Malosky Stadium. The Bulldogs can clinch a NSIC Tournament berth with one victory against the Beavers.