PLYMOUTH, Minn.-- Softball started off the season with their traditional trip to the Plymouth Creek Dome on Thursday. The Rams split a double header with Maranatha Baptist University and Martin Luther College and got the top of their batting order rolling in a very positive start to the year.

North Central (1-1, 0-0 UMAC) hosted Maranatha Baptist Univeristy (Watertown, Wis.) and Martin Luther College (New Ulm, Minn.) for a split double-header at the Plymouth Creek Dome on Thursday in what was the season opener for all three programs. North Central pulled away from Maranatha for a 17-9 win over five innings in game one before falling to Martin Luther, 12-3 in game two.

Game One: NCU vs Maranatha Baptist
North Central was in a tussle with Maranatha over the first two innings before the top of the Rams batting order simply overwhelmed the Sabercats. In her first college game, freshman Kylee Bommersbach (Sartell, Minn./Sartell) battled some control problems in the circle and issued eight walks, five wild pitches and hit two batters over the first two innings before throwing up two shutout innings and closing the game out in the fifth inning. But she responded as the NCU leadoff hitter and her teammates at the top of the order game through in a big way.

After trailing 2-0 through a half inning the Rams responded with four runs in their first at bat of the year. Bommersbach walked to lead off the game and sophomore Holly Pieper (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) pounded a double to deep center to give the Rams runners at the corners with no outs. An MBU wild pitch scored Bommersbach and moved Pieper to third before junior Megan Myers (Cannon Falls, Minn./Randolf) crushed a home run to deep left field to give the Rams their first lead of the game at 3-2 with one out. Freshman Abbey Erzberger (Brookfield, Wis./Heritage Christian) reached on an error in the next at bat and eventually was driven in on an RBI ground out by freshman Samantha Bergum (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) that closed the Rams rally and gave NCU a 4-2 lead after an inning.

Maranatha tossed up a six spot based on six walks and just one hit in the top of the second before the Rams tied the game and took control. Kylee Bommersbach once again was a catalyst by leading off with a single and then stole second. Holly Pieper then smacked another double to deep center that scored Bommersbach. After Pieper stole third, freshman Amanda Roth (Neenah, Wis./Neenah) then cracked a single down the left field line that scored Pieper. Then, almost in the exact same place she did in her last at bat, just two pitches into the plate appearance, Megan Myers hit another towering home run that tied the game 8-8.

Bommersbach responded to the continued Rams offensive assault by sending the Cats down without any damage in the third and the Rams continued their offensive charge. Bommersbach walked and stole second before Pieper moved her to third with a single to left. Pieper moved to second on a wild pitch and Amanda Roth grounded out to short to advance the runners and give the Rams a 9-8 lead. Myers was then intentially walked and stole second to put runners on second and third with two outs. A wild pitch plated another run and moved Myers to third. Abbey Erzberger then walked and stole second before freshman Mary Nelson (Milwaukee, Wis./Grace Christian) loaded the bases with a walk. Samantha Bergum then singled to center to drive in a pair of runs that wrapped up the Rams rally and earned them a 12-8 lead.

MBU was quiet in the top of the fourth and North Central plated another run in the bottom half to make it 13-8 after four. The Sabercats got another run back in the fifth to make it 13-9 through 4.5 innings.

With a win on the horizon North Central put the bat to the ball and closed it out in the bottom of the fifth. Samantha Bergum got a one-out single and evenutally moved to third on an error before scoring when freshman Laura Grandstrand (Karlstad, Minn./Heritage Christian) knocked her in with a single up the middle. Bommersbach cranked a single down the third baseline before Holly Pieper nailed a triple to deep center that scored both NCU runners. An error allowed Amanda Roth to reach and scored Pieper and that run served to give the Rams a run-rule victory.

North Central ended the game with the top six batters in the order going 10-16 with 10 RBI, 15 runs scored and 6 walks. Holly Pieper notched her best day at the plate in a Rams uniform going 4-4 with a triple, a pair of doubles and 3 RBI. Megan Myers was 2-2 with a pair of two-run home runs and reached base in all four at-bats after being walked in her other two plate appearances.

Kylee Bommersback was outstanding in the leadoff role for the Rams going 2-3 with a pair of walks while getting her first win as a college pitcher. Amanda Roth was 1-4 with a walk and 3 RBI in her first college game.

Game two: NCU vs Martin Luther

Game two saw the Rams take on Martin Luther College in a non-conference game. The Rams battled the Knights early on and trailed 4-1 after two innings. Unfortunately North Central gave up 8 runs on 3 hits and 3 errors in the third inning and were not able to recover.

Martin Luther was scoreless in the fourth and fifth before the Rams were able to salvage a few more runs but lacked the needed offense to stop the game from being completed in five innings.

The Rams big hitters on the day had one more bang left in their bats before the score was finalized. Holly Pieper got things started with a two-out walk and Megan Myers mailed a ball to the deepest part of the field that scored Pieper. The next batter up, Amanda Roth then smacked another hit to nearly the same spot for a triple that scored Myers and made up for a few near misses in the earlier innings of both games.

Megan Myers and Amanda Roth were each 2-3 with an RBI triple in game two.

The Rams will be back in action tomorrow with a triple-header. NCU will take on Maranatha Baptist in game one before taking on Martin Luther in game two. For the third game the Rams will take on St. Catherine University.