Rochester, Minn.- The University of Minnesota Duluth softball team kicked off its NSIC Tournament run with a victory against Minot State on Wednesday, defeating the Beavers by a final score of 2-0. The win advances the Bulldogs along in the winners' bracket of the tournament to face Winona State on Thursday, May 4 at 12:00 p.m. All NSIC Tournament contests will be played in the RYFSA Complex in Rochester, Minn.

Leave it to Lauren Dixon to start the day with some history. 

Exactly a day removed from becoming UMD's first NSIC Pitcher of the Year in two decades, the junior set her sights on another notch in the record books. The Sobieski, Wis. native came into the NSIC Tournament with 546 strikeouts to her name, leaving her exactly one K away from a tie for the UMD program record. The lefty decided there was little reason to drag out the drama- in Minot State's second at-bat of the contest, Dixon hit 547. She apparently had no interest in letting the tie for the top marinate, either. Beaver batter number three? Career strikeout number 548. That's one way to retire a side. 

That left the Bulldog offense with a rather straightforward assignment in the bottom of the second: score one run, and the lead's yours. Who better than the senior in Sidney Zavoral to help see things through, her groundout bringing Kiana Bender home to secure UMD a 1-0 lead. This would be it for the Bulldogs' scoring in the frame, though, and MSU looked to make them regret it. The Beavers started the top of the second by landing their first three batters on base, two by walks and the third by way of a hit. It's in this spot that UMD got a real refresher on the kind of player it had on the mound in this one. MSU's next at-bat was put to rest by another K. After some work with her arm, Dixon called upon her glove. Taryn Bennett would make contact that threatened to score a MSU run, but the ball flew straight to Dixon, who was able to corral it and toss it back to Zavoral to leave the Beavers off the board. Right back to the arm- another batter, another strikeout. Still 1-0 Bulldogs. Seems against the odds, but given this defense, was it really?

UMD's bats didn't take this effort for granted, getting right back to work to build upon the Bulldog lead. A Julia Gronholz leadoff double was eventually followed by a Nicole Schmitt groundout that completed Gronholz's trip around the bases to make it 2-0 UMD. In the top of the third, it was more of the same from Dixon, who allowed just a single walk through four batters. UMD would continue to challenge MSU's pitching in the bottom of the frame, landing two on base while operating on two outs. Zavoral would even steal home, leaving her tantalizingly close to being the third Bulldog to score in this one. But the Beavers were able to escape to the fourth still down just a pair.

The top of the fourth was a real game of grounders. Dixon forced MSU hitters into three-straight groundouts to maintain UMD's advantage. The fifth provided a bit more variety, albeit towards the same outcome- flyout, strikeout, groundout. Still 2-0 with the Bulldogs back up to bat. Reminiscent of the third inning, UMD would start to find some life down to its last out. A hit and a walk would place two Bulldogs on base, but it wouldn't translate into a score. No worries- Dixon was still dealing. The junior opened the top of the sixth with two-consecutive Ks and polished things off with a groundout to leave the Beavers down to their last shot at an offensive response in the seventh. If Dixon and company could just hold on and maintain the 2-0 score, UMD would be off and advancing without the Bulldogs having to touch the bats again. The only thing ambiguous about the outcome was the exact sequence that'd be followed to get there: popout, strikeout, groundout. With that, UMD officially opened its NSIC Tournament bid with a 2-0 victory. 

Dixon was simply tremendous on the hill for the Bulldogs through another complete game of an outing. Across seven innings and 80 pitches of work, the conference's best arm allowed just a single hit and walked only three batters while accumulating nine total strikeouts. Of course, there's the whole school history thing, too. At the plate, Zavoral was a standout. The senior went 2-3 with an RBI. Schmitt landed UMD's other RBI in the game. Bender and Gronholz were the ones that made it around the bases for the Bulldogs.