The University of Minnesota Duluth softball team closed out its regular season at home today with a doubleheader sweep over Minnesota State University-Moorhead.

Game 1:
UMD would control today's first game from the start, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, when Kiana Bender hit an RBI single to center field that sent Taylor Koehnen past home. Jordyn Thomas would double this lead with a solo homerun in the bottom of the third -- her tenth homerun of the season. Julia Gronholz would score near the close of the inning to make it 3-0 Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs would continue to run up the score; in the fourth inning, Jessica Bren and Kiana Bender would each score an unearned run, and Taylor Koehnen would get her second run of the day in the fifth inning. Kelly Swank would pass home to put the Bulldogs up 7-0 and Jordyn Thomas singled to right field to score Kiana Bender for the magic eight-run lead to end the game in five innings.

Jordyn Thomas, Julia Gronholz, and Taylor Koehnen all recorded two hits for the Bulldogs; Jessica Bren and Kiana Bender each got one. Sam Pederson would pick up the win for the Bulldogs, her 11th of the season, after facing 17 batters -- striking out three -- and allowing no runs on two hits.

Game 2:
It would be Lauren Oberle who would start the scoring for the Bulldogs in today's second game, hitting a solo homerun to center field in the bottom of the first inning. Jordyn Thomas would score her second run of the day in the first inning as well, after Julia Gronholz singled to right center field. Emma Frost and Sidney Zavoral would also get runs in the first inning, putting the Bulldogs up 4-0.

The Bulldog bats would go quiet through the middle stretch -- getting one hit in the second inning and another in the fifth but no runs through the fifth inning.

Kat Burkhardt would make it 7-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning with her first collegiate homerun -- a three-run affair that would also send Paige Meyer and Taylor Koehnen past home. The Dragons would get one run in the top of the seventh inning but the Bulldogs would prevail for the 7-1 win. Lauren Dixon would get her twelfth win of the season in the circle with today's victory.

Eight different Bulldogs would record hits in today's second game: Jordyn Thomas with two, and Lauren Oberle, Jessica Bren, Emma Frost, Julia Gronholz, Taylor Koehnen, Kate Mohr, and Kat Burkhardt all with one hit to their name. 

UMD will now head down to Rochester, MN for the NSIC Tournament beginning this Thursday, May 13th. For the full 2021 season schedule, click here.