The University of Minnesota Duluth's gallant quest for its first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament title in 14 years came to an end Sunday morning as the Bulldogs fell 10-1 in five innings to Minnesota State University-Mankato on the final the day of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The winner of the eight-team double-elimination event gets an automatic bid into the next week's NCAA Division II Tournament. The Bulldogs, who went 3-2 over the weekend (sandwiching three Friday wins between a Thursday afternoon setback to Bemidji State University and today's loss at the hands of Minnesota State-Mankato), will now pin their hopes at securing one of five at-large spots to the NCAA II Central Regional and that field will be announced Monday at 9 a.m. on ncaa.com. UMD held down the No. 7 spot in last week's NCAA II Central Regional Rankings.

The No. 2 seeded Bulldogs (35-15 overall) trailed 2-0 after one inning and 5-0 after two before the top-seeded Mavericks put the game on ice with a five-run third. Sophomore second baseman and team batting average leade Natalie Wright accounted for two of UMD's four hits on the day while sophomore shortstop Becky Smith drove in the lone Bulldog run with a two-out single to left field in the top of the fifth inning. Junior southpaw Sam Hartmann (18-7) allowed 10 runs -- seven of which were earned -- and eight hits in  2 2/3 innings before being lifted for freshman Valerie Hohol, who hit a batter and gave up a single before getting the final out of the third. Senior Cayli Sadler, making her school-record 127th career pitching appearance -- threw a one-hit, no run fourth.

Both Smith and Wright were selected to the 11-member NSIC All-Tournament Team.
  Minnesota State, the reigning NSIC regular season champion, moved on to play Upper Iowa University Sunday afternoon and lost to the Peacocks in the title game.

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