Maple Grove, MN -- This afternoon, the softball team from North Central University (NCU) hosted the first game in their series against the University of Northwestern (UNW) Eagles as they begin conference play. In their previous meeting in the 2024 season, the Eagles defeated the Rams in both meetings. Today, the Rams would be defeated by the Eagles once again with a final score of 23-0.

The visitors opened scoring in the top of the first with a single run on a groundout, but North Central responded with sharp defense to limit the damage. In the bottom of the inning, Addison Schroer worked a walk, and Kaitlyn Havens put a charge into one to left, but the Rams were unable to push across a run early. The second inning saw the opponent tack on several more, stringing together hits and capitalizing on a pair of unearned runs. Despite the challenge, Erica Gilles led off the bottom half with a solid single to center, marking one of North Central's early offensive highlights. The third and fourth innings were controlled by the visitors' offense, who found gaps with consistent line drives, but North Central stayed aggressive. Maggie Kohl ripped a clean single in the fourth and combined with Gilles and Schroer to apply pressure on the base paths. In the same frame, the Rams loaded up the bases behind good discipline at the plate, with Aurora Prettyman and Gilles working walks and Havens notching another hit to the right-center gap. In the fifth, North Central had one last push. Isabela Gallardo lined out sharply to first before Schroer went down on strikes, but Havens continued her standout day with her second hit of the game. Prettyman drew her second walk to extend the inning, and Gilles nearly found a hole on a ground ball that forced out the runner at third.

Top Performers:

• Kaitlyn Havens: (Fr., DP): 2-3, two singles
• Erica Gilles (So., 1B): 1-2, walk

Looking Ahead:

North Central will face the Eagles again tomorrow in a doubleheader as they look for their first conference win of the season. The games are scheduled for 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM.

All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) pages for updates on softball and all things NCU Athletics.