The University of Minnesota Duluth softball team closed out its weekend trip to North Dakota with two dominant performances over the University of Mary. The Bulldogs would score a total of 33 runs and 30 hits over the two games and only allow seven runs on the day. UMD took the first game 15-2 and the second game 18-5.

Game 1:
UMD's bats were hot early, cruising out to a 5-0 lead at the top of the first inning. On just the third at-bat of the game, Jordyn Thoams doubled to right field for the RBI, sending Kiana Bender to third base and Lauren Oberle past home to make the score 1-0. Jessica Bren then flied out to right field for the RBI that put Jordyn Thomas on third and allowed Kiana Bender to score to double the Bulldogs' lead to 2-0. On the next at-bat, Emma Frost hit an RBI single to the left side to send Jordyn Thomas across home plate, making it 3-0 Bulldogs.

Taylor Koehnen would rack up another hit for the Bulldogs, a single to left field that allowed Emma Frost to advance to second base. Sophomore Sidney Zavoral would then double to right field, an RBI double that sent both Taylor Koehnen and Emma Frost past home to put the Bulldogs up 5-0. UMD would end the inning with five runs on four hits and no errors.

Freshman pitcher Lauren Dixon, getting the nod in today's first game, held the Marauders to no runs and no hits in the first inning.

In the second inning, Lauren Oberle singled to left field to add to the Bulldogs' hits on the day. Emma Frost would hit a grand slam, knocking in four runs that also allowed Jessica Bren, Paige Meyer, and Kiana Bender to score. This would push the score to 9-0 in favor of the Bulldogs, with UMD scoring four runs off three hits in the inning. Lauren Dixon struck out three Marauders players in a row to end the inning.

In the third inning, the Bulldogs scored two runs from Julia Gronholz and Sidney Zavoral off Kiana Bender's fielder's choice. This pushed the score to a double-digit lead by the Bulldogs, 11-0.

The Marauders would get their first hits of the day in the bottom of the third inning, tallying two hits before closing out the inning. 

Julia Gronholz would get the Bulldogs' only hit of the fourth inning, and the Marauders responded with a two-run homerun to make the score 11-2 at the bottom of the fourth. 

At the top of the fifth inning, UMD would add to its lead with an RBI double to center field from Elle Potts that sent Jessica Bren and Paige Meyer past home for the second time in the game. An RBI from Taylor Koehnen in the next at-bat allowed Elle Potts to score to make it 14-2. The Marauders would change pitchers but Sidney Zavoral would double to left center for the RBI that sent Taylor Koehnen across home plate to make it 15-2.

After UMD switched pitchers -- Mady Stariha came into the circle for Lauren Dixon -- the Marauders would add one hit in the fifth inning and get two runners on base, but they would not be able to overcome the Bulldogs' dominant lead. The Bulldogs would take the game in five innings, with Lauren Dixon picking up the win and a final score of 15-2.

Game 2:
UMD would come out hot in the second game of the day, scoring five runs in the first inning, twelve total runs in the second inning, and only allowing one run from the Marauders in the first inning.

Lauren Oberle would score the Bulldogs' first run of the second game off a Jordyn Thomas double. Taylor Koehnen doubled to right center for an RBI that sent Emma Frost to third and Jordyn Thomas past home to put the Bulldogs up 2-0. Taylor Koehnen and Emma Frost would make it 4-0 Bulldogs just one play later, scoring off an RBI double from Kelly Swank. A wild pitch later in the inning would give Swank a run of her own and make it 5-0 in UMD's favor. In total the Bulldogs would get five runs off three hits in the first inning.

The Marauders would get one run and two hits in the bottom of the first inning, but the Bulldogs would begin to pull away in the second inning, piling up runs. Jordyn Thomas hit an RBI single to center field to allow Lauren Oberle to score. Jessica Bren then homered to left field, an RBI double that also sent Jordyn Thomas past home to make the score 8-1. 

At this point, the Marauders would make a pitching change, but the Bulldog bats couldn't be denied. Kelly Swank reached second base on an error by the left fielder, Taylor Koehnen advanced to third, and Emma Frost scored -- 9-1 Bulldogs. An RBI single from Sidney Zavoral sent Kelly Swank to third and Taylor Koehnen past home -- 10-1 Bulldogs.

Lauren Oberle would hit UMD's second grand slam of the day, knocking in four runs and scoring alongside Julia Gronholz, Sidney Zavoral, and Kelly Swank -- 14-1 Bulldogs.

After another change in the circle from the Marauders, Jessica Bren would double to left center, Jordyn Thomas would advance to third, and Kiana Bender would score -- 15-1 Bulldogs.

Emma Frost would then single to left field for the RBI double, sending Jessica Bren and Jordyn Thomas past home -- 17-1 Bulldogs.

The final total in the second inning for the Bulldogs? 12 runs and 9 hits, going up 17-1 for a lead that the Marauders would not be able to chip away at in the bottom of the second inning.

In the third inning, Corrie Weise, pinch hitting for Jessica Bren, singled to third base, setting up a sequence of events that allowed Paige Meyer to advance to second on an error by the UMary third baseman and then advance to third, allow Lauren Oberle to advance to third on that same error and then get the unearned run. The sequence would make the score 18-1 in favor of the Bulldogs.

UMary would get on the scoreboard for the first time in the second game in the bottom of the third inning, scoring four runs off an RBI triple to make the score 18-4. The Bulldogs would not extend their lead any further in the fourth inning, and the Marauders would add a single run in the bottom of the fourth -- an RBI single to make it 18-5.

The Bulldogs wouldn't add any more runs in the top of the fifth inning, but they wouldn't need them -- the score would be large enough to end the game after five innings. The Bulldogs would win the game 18-5, picking up their 20th win of the season and going a perfect 4-0 on the weekend.

In all, eleven different Bulldogs would score at least one run against the University of Mary today, with Lauren Oberle leading the way -- scoring five runs in the two games.

UMD continues its road trip next week, heading to Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday the 17th and heading down to Minnesota State University, Mankato on Sunday, April 18th. For the full season schedule, click here.