The battle of the two hottest teams in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference went to Aurora (Ill.) University, which swept both games of a doubleheader from the Lakeland College softball team Saturday afternoon.
An undefeated conference record trumped a seven-game winning streak, as visiting Aurora won by scores of 9-3 and 3-0 to sweep. The wins further moved the NACC-leading to the brink of clinching the conference regular season title, while the Muskies' push for the postseason was slowed down for a day.
Lakeland (16-14 overall, 8-8 NACC) saw why Aurora has put together a perfect 16-0 record in league play (27-7 overall). The Spartans limited the Muskies' powerful offense to nine hits combined over two games, while their own offense generated 19 hits on the day and came up with the clutch hits to keep Lakeland at bay.
Aurora scored four times in the second inning of the opener, breaking a 1-1 tie and gaining the upper hand to put the Muskies in trail mode the rest of the game. Lakeland got as close as three runs on two occasions the rest of the way as
Mikayla Hilton (
Jr.-Port Washington, Wis.) scored on an error and
Rosa Gonzalez (
So.-Elwood, Ill.) later drove in a run with an RBI single, but the Spartans pulled away late with three runs in the sixth inning.
The second game was a pitchers' duel between Aurora's duo of Britni Wilson and Vanessa Hartzell against
Savannah Stenlund (
So.-Rapid River, Mich.). The game was scoreless until the fifth, when the Spartans' Steph Starr singled to lead off the inning and came around to score later, and Aurora added two more runs in the sixth with RBI singles by Elaine Walker and Amie Raynor.
Lakeland, meanwhile, was unable to get much going offensively, manufacturing just three hits. Gonzalez had a pair in the second game and finished with four on the day, while
Caten Teff (
Jr.-Alpena, Mich.) had the lone other hit.
Stenlund pitched a complete game in the second contest and allowed eight hits and three runs (two earned) while striking out six.
Taylor Bush (
Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) pitched the opener and also went the distance, allowing 11 hits and all nine runs with three strikeouts.
Lakeland is in action against Sunday when it faces Benedictine (Ill.) University for a twinbill starting at noon. Due to the forecasted possibility of rain showers, the games have been moved to Benedictine's campus in Lisle, Ill.
