The University of Minnesota Duluth softball team will hit the road for six games this week when it plays at the Lewis Dome Invitational inside the The Dome at the Ballpark in Rosemont, Ill. Thursday through Saturday. The Bulldogs, who are off to a 3-0 start, will face two squads they have already defeated this season (Upper Iowa University and Lewis University), as well as Wayne State University (Mich.), Grand Valley State University, University of Wisconsin Parkside and Hillsdale College. UMD's portion of the invite gets underway Thursday with a 6:00 p.m. game against UIU.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH UPPER IOWA: The two sides last met just two weeks ago in the Mankato Dome Invite, a 10-7 win for the Bulldogs. All-time, UMD is 9-1 against the Peacocks in their last 10 showdowns and 15-7 all-time. In their game back on Feb. 2, active bats and a shared pitching effort between Allison Luoma with the save on 2.1 innings pitched and Mady Stariha with the win on 4.2 innings pitched.
After scoring one run in the first, UMD responded to a two-run inning by the Peacocks in the third with five runs of their own, including RBIs from Kelly Swank, Kat Burkhardt and Julia Gronholz to make it a 5-2 game after three innings.
The Bulldogs padded that lead in the fifth, and Gronholz scored off a throwing error, while a Bender single to left field allowed Noelle Krumie to score. McMillan then drove a hit up the middle and scored Jenkins, and after five innings, UMD was in front 9-4. The Bulldogs defense did the rest, holding UIU short of a comeback. Gronholz went 3-of-3 in the contest. The Peacocks are 2-6 so far this season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH WAYNE STATE (MICH.): UMD is 1-2 all-time against the Warriors, but defeated them 10-0 last season in the same invitational back on Feb, 23, 2023. In all three of the two program's head-to-head showdowns, it's been a high scoring affair, with each team needing 10 or more runs en route to the win column. Nicole Tines enters her third season as the head coach for Wayne with a 29-64 record in her first two seasons. The Warriors have not played a game yet this season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH GRAND VALLEY STATE: The Bulldogs last faced the Lakers on Feb. 24, 2023 in the same invitational, a 1-0 loss for UMD in a game that had just four hits – all by eventual 2023 NCAA runner-up GVSU. All-time, UMD is 3-2 against the Lakers, and GVSU is off to a 2-2 start to the 2024 season. Dana Callihan is entering her 10th season at the helm for the Lakers with a 352-96 record in her prior nine seasons.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH PARKSIDE: Like Wayne State and GVSU, the Bulldogs and Rangers last met in the Lewis Dome Invitational last season, a 3-0 win for UMD. All-time, the Bulldogs are undefeated against Parkside with a record of 3-0, and have outscored the Rangers 13-6 in those three meetings. Parkside is currently 2-3 entering play this week, and is coached by Kristin Ortman, currently in her eight season as head coach for the Rangers with a. 100-210 overall record in her first 7 seven seasons.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH HILLSIDE: UMD is 1-1 all-time against the Chargers, and last played them in 2019, a 4-1 win for the Bulldogs in Duluth, Minn. Hillsdale is 2-1 entering the invitational, and is coached by Kyle Gross in his sixth season as head coach, who entered 2024 with an overall record of 126-104 in his first 5 seasons.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH LEWIS: UMD is unbeaten all time- against Lewis University with a record of 4-0 in four games over the past three seasons, and the Bulldogs are averaging five runs a game against the Flyers.
In their first meeting of the season on Feb. 3, the two NCAA Tournament teams played in a scoreless pitchers duel until the Bulldogs came to bat in the top of the sixth inning. UMD had a pair of doubles, starting with senior catcher Kate Mohr to left field to score Kendal Jenkins and Nicole Schmitt, followed by a double to left center by Elle Potts who hit home Mohr to give the maroon and gold a 3-0 lead. The Bulldogs followed their offensive sixth inning effort with another three-run push in the top of the seventh. Schmitt singled to right field to get Ava Johnson home and advance Kat Burkhardt, followed by a Julia Gronholz double to right field that scored Burkhardt and Schmitt. Just like that, UMD had broken open a once stalemate game with a 6-0 lead to show for it.
Senior pitcher Lauren Dixon earned the shutout with nine strikeouts, and now has 23 in two games already this season while running the career Bulldog shutout record to 608 in the process. Seven players recorded hits in the win, with Gronholz and Mohr leading UMD with two RBIs.
ALL IN ON ANDERSON: Lynn Anderson is in her third season with Bulldogs after leading UMD to more wins (79) in her first two seasons in the dugout than any other head coach in program history. Overall, Anderson is 82-29, and led UMD to just its fourth-ever 40-plus win season in 2023, as well as a berth in the NCAA Regional Tournament.
DOMINANT DIXON: Lauren Dixon, senior out of Sobieski, Wis. and reigning NSIC Pitcher of the Year, .started off the season 2-0 with 23 strikeouts in her first two games pitched so far this season. Dixon already owns the program's strikeout record, which she has now stretched out to 608 after UMD's opening weekend.
Also named the 2023 NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year, Dixon was a 2023 NFCA and D2CCA All-Central Region First Team selection, as well as the 2023 NSIC Pitcher of the Year – UMD's first since the 2003 season. Named to the 2023 All-NSIC First Team, Dixon set the UMD program record for career strikeouts (585) last spring and owned a 1.50 ERA over 172.2 innings pitched, allowing just 37 runs with a whopping 228 strikeouts. Dixon finished her junior campaign with a 21-5 record, which included 11 shutouts.
UMD PICKED TO FINISH SECOND IN THE NSIC: The defending NSIC Tournament champions were picked to finish second in the NSIC 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll, mimicking UMD's regular season final resting place from 2023. UMD went 22-6 in the NSIC last year, and only Augustana University was chosen to finish higher. The Bulldogs earned 168 points – just seven behind the Vikings who were picked to finish first with 193 points.
