ST. PAUL, Minn.-- Softball teams across the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference opened their league schedule on Monday night. North Central made the short drive to St. Paul for their conference opener at The University of Northwestern and after falling behind in the first inning, dropped a 15-2 final score line in five innings at Reynolds Field.

The defining moment of the game came early on in Monday's cross town match up with The University of Northwestern (St. Paul, Minn.) in the league opener for each team. After the Rams stranded a runner in the top of the first, the Eagles responded with 11 runs on just four hits with the aid of 3 NCU errors, 4 walks and 6 wild pitches.

After digging a big hole in the opening frame North Central struggled through their next two at-bats, going down in order in the second and third innings to trail 14-0 after three full innings. The Rams used the energy of holding the Eagles scoreless in the third to create their only scoring rally of the game in the top of the fourth.

Freshman Amanda Roth (Neenah, Wis./Neenah) crushed a lead off double off the left center field fence that rolled all the way back to the short stop before a UNW outfielder could play the ball, a bounce that prevented Roth from reaching third. Sophomore Holly Pieper (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) then smacked a one out double down the left field line that easily scored Roth from second. Freshman Abbey Erzberger (Brookfield, Wis./Heritage Christian) then moved Pieper to third with a single to right field. Pieper then scored standing up after an Eagles wild pitch that also moved Erzberger to third. But the Rams could not keep the pressure on and a strikeout and ground out ended the rally.

Amanda Roth and Holly Pieper were each 1-2 with a double in their first UMAC game of the year. The Rams were out hit just 6-4 on the day but 5 NCU fielding errors and 8 walks proved to be too much to overcome in the loss.

The Rams will be back in action later this week at the West St. Paul Dome for the UMAC split double header event. NCU takes on Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato, Minn.) at 9:30 a.m. before playing Crown College (St. Bonifacius, Minn.) at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. Friday North Central plays The University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minn.) at 8:30 a.m. followed by Martin Luther College at 12:30 p.m. The UMAC rents the facility in West St. Paul to allow for league teams to get this portion of their schedule in without contests being affected by weather cancelations.