St. Bonifacius, MN -- North Central University (NCU) Softball continued Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play today as they faced Crown College (CC) for game one of their 3-game series. Trailing 3-1 heading into the fifth inning, the Rams would be able to score a pair of runs to knot things up at 3-all. However, Crown answered and went on to win 4-3 in 7 innings.
Isabela Gallardo got things started for the Rams by reaching on a single and then stealing second on the next pitch. Delaney Riddle then reached on an error by the Polars' pitcher and Gallardo would take home to score the opening run of the game. Crown answered right back in the bottom of the inning by scoring a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead. Carla Mendoza singled in the first at-bat of the 2nd, but the Rams dropped 1,2,3 after that. On the mound, Carla Mendoza did her job in the bottom of the inning by forcing a ground out, fly out, and one strikeout to retire the Polars. After another scoreless offensive half from NCU, Crown was able to tack on another score to take a 3-1 lead into the 4th. Both squads went scoreless in the fourth before the Rams got things rolling in the fifth. Once again, Gallardo got NCU going with a lead-off double. Kelsey Henninger got her first hit of the evening to move Gallardo to third. Delaney Riddle hit a sacrifice fly to score Gallardo to cut the deficit to just one. Aurora Prettyman followed that up with an RBI single to score Henninger. With the game now tied at 3-3, Crown scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 6th. The Rams would be unable to reach base and would suffer the 4-3 loss.
Top Performers:
Looking Ahead:
Softball will wrap up the Crown series tomorrow starting at 1:00 PM in St. Bonifacius.
All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages for updates on softball and all things NCU Athletics.
