The Lakeland College softball team and Dominican (Ill.) University played two distinctly different games, but the Muskies came up short on both ends of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader Monday afternoon.

The Stars won by scores of 3-1 and 11-6 in a twinbill hosted by Lakeland, winning a pitchers' duel in dry conditions and a high-scoring game in the rain. The games were played on Monday after being postponed because of weather conditions on Sunday.

Savannah Stenlund (Fr.-Rapid River, Mich.) pitched a complete game in the opener and struck out seven, but Dominican's Michelle Behrens was slightly better. Behrens also tossed a complete game and scattered five hits, making an early two-run advantage stand up.

Lakeland (6-12 overall, 1-3 NACC) fell behind 2-0 in the second inning but got one of those runs back when Bella Wilkinson (Fr.-Evergreen Park, Ill.) singled to score Sami Jo Williams (So.-Sussex, Wis.). The Muskies had just one more hit the rest of the way, though, and the Stars added a run in the seventh and withstood two errors in the bottom of the seventh, stranding runners at second and third to end the game.

The hosts held the upper hand for the first four innings in the nightcap, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning on RBI hits by Ashley Hough (Sr.-Rapid River, Mich.) and Calie Delisi (Fr.-Oak Forest, Ill.). Lakeland also answered both times when Dominican scored a run in the third inning and two more in the fourth, as Hough singled in another run and both Hailey Jester (Fr.-Salem, Wis.) and Williams singled in runs.

The Stars broke the game open in the top of the fifth, though, scoring seven times. Dominican sent 10 hitters to the plate and also took advantage of a pair of errors to score four unearned runs in taking a 10-5 lead. The Muskies could only get one more run back the rest of the way when Mikayla Hilton (So.-Port Washington, Wis.) reached on an infield single in the bottom of the fifth to score pinch runner Bailey Grayvold (So.-Norway, Mich.).

Williams and Delisi both had three hits each in the second game while Hough and Jester both added two hits each. Dominican outhit Lakeland 14-13 as Brooke Paige (Fr.-Harbor Springs, Mich.) took the loss in relief after allowing four hits and five runs (one earned).

The Muskies are next in action on Saturday when they travel to face Aurora University for a doubleheader beginning at noon in Aurora, Ill.