Moorhead, Minn. - Three doubles and two home runs from Kiana Bender helped the Minnesota Duluth softball team to a series sweep of the MSU-Moorhead Dragons on Wednesday afternoon. On the day, UMD pieced together 4-2 and 17-3 victories to push their overall record to 29-12 on the season. The pair of wins also give the Bulldogs a 14-6 record in NSIC play. 

"Good team wins today," said Head Coach Lynn Anderson. "We executed in a facets of the game. Lots of players stepped up, made adjustments, and had success. Looking to keep that going into the weekend." 

Across both games, Bender went 5-for-7 with three doubles, two homers and five RBI. Bender's explosive day at the plate moves her into second on the team in both home runs (7) and RBI (32) on the season. Also noting two home runs on the day was freshman Nicole Schmitt. On Wednesday afternoon, Schmitt secure two homers, a double and three RBI. Kat Burkhardt continued her strong play as she went 5-for-8 at the dish, while tallying four RBI. Additionally, Elle Potts chipped in three RBI of her own in game two. 

On the mound, Lauren Dixon pitched a masterful performance in game one to earn the victory and move to 11-6 overall on the year. In seven innings on Wednesday, Dixon gave up just two runs on three hits, while also noting 13 strike outs. It's the sixth time this season that Dixon has recorded over ten strike outs in a game. In game two of the double header, Mady Stariha picked up her third win of the year after limiting the Dragons to just three runs on five hits. 5th-year pitcher Sam Pederson also noted an appearance in game two as she took the mound for one inning and recorded one strike out. 

Game one saw the Bulldogs fall into an unfamiliar situation, having to erase an early deficit. After UMD failed to score in the first and second innings, the Dragons played small ball and grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Though they were down 2-0, UMD quickly responded in the top of the third. Walks to Bender and Emma Frost would give Sidney Zavoral an opportunity with runners in scoring position. Zavoral would step up big and single to score Bender and make it a 2-1 game. Two batters later, Burkhardt notched a single to center field to score both Frost and Zavoral and give UMD a 3-2 advantage through three innings. Still up by one run in the top of the seventh, another RBI single from Burkhardt would score Kaytlynne Schulte and give the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead. Dixon closed the game out in the bottom of the seventh to secure a 4-2 win in game one. 

In game two, scoring came early and often for Minnesota Duluth. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a homer from Bender and an RBI double from Zavoral. Up 3-0 in the top of the third, homers from Schmitt and Bender would break the game open and extend UMD's advantage to 9-0. After three runs from the Dragons in the bottom of the fourth, the Bulldogs would explode with eight runs in the fifth to ensure an early end to game two. In the top of the fifth, RBI hits from Bender, Burkhardt and Kelly Swank would ensure the 17-3 victory for UMD.  

Up Next
The Bulldogs will return home on Saturday for a double header against Southwest Minnesota State. First pitches are set for 1 & 3 PM in Duluth.