WATERTOWN, Wis. - Growing pains are felt in every young team and often times take months to adjust. North Central University softball (0-24, 0-8 UMAC) has been working through a similar set of growing pains but showed significant improvement on Friday afternoon in a doubleheader against Maranatha Baptist University (4-12). The Rams fell 10-2 in game one and 7-3 in game two. Maranatha Baptist outhit North Central 26-10 but the Rams were never completely out of the games keeping the games close and held the lead early in game one. Kylee Bommersbach (Sartell, Minn./Sartell) and Amanda Roth (Appleton, Wis./Neenah) split games in the Rams pitching efforts. 

How It Happened

Game 1: North Central got on the scoreboard first with help from the Sabercats wild pitch and fielding error sent Abbey Erzberger (Milwaukee, Wis./Heritage Christian) home for the first run of the game. Maddie Parrow (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) sent a ball through to center field driving home Nora Sullivan (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley). The Sabercats would steal a run back in the bottom of the first but the Rams held a 2-1 lead through the first inning. In the second the Rams were able to get players on base but quick outs couldn't send them home to extend the lead. The Sabercats scored again in the bottom of the second inning to grab the 3-2 lead going into the third. Both the third and fourth inning saw the two teams go scoreless in quick defensive play. In the bottom of the fifth the Sabercats tallied six hits and six runs in a dominate hitting effort. North Central couldn't complete the comeback in the top of the sixth and an added run by Maranatha ended the game 10-2 after six innings. Roth was perfect from the plate for the Rams recording three hits in three attempts at the plate. 

Game 2: A slow start for both teams offensively and scoreless through 2.5 innings. In the bottom of the third the Saberscats scored two runs on back-to-back home runs and grabbed a 2-0 lead after three innings. Both teams were quiet from the plate in the fourth and fifth innings, Maranatha added one run in the fifth. Then in the bottom of the sixth the Saberscats tallied four runs from five hits to extend the lead to 7-0. During the final inning of play the Rams offense came alive in hopes to complete the comeback but only recorded three runs with singles from Roth, Erzberger, and Sullivan before the Sabercats retired the side and ended the game 7-3. 

Up Next: North Central will face Maranatha Baptist in a doubleheader on Saturday April 15 starting at 12 p.m. The Rams will have three days off before traveling to Ashland, Wis. on Wednesday April 19 in a doubleheader against the Lumberjills of Northland College. 

Stay up to date with North Central Softball by following the team on social media! Twitter: @NCU_SB, Instagram: @NCU_SB, and Facebook: @NCUramsSoftball.