MILWAUKEE – The Lakeland University softball team was done in by big innings in both games as it dropped a doubleheader against Milwaukee School of Engineering to close out its season Saturday.

The Muskies were defeated 6-1 in the first game and then fell by a 13-5 score in six innings in the second Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference contest. Lakeland closed out a challenging season with a 16-24 overall record and will finish tied for eighth in the conference with an 8-14 mark.

MSOE (28-12 overall, 17-5 NACC) took advantage of explosive innings in both games to put the Muskies in trail mode much of the afternoon. That included a four-run third inning in the first game that erased an early 1-0 Lakeland lead and was decisive in a contest when MSOE pitcher Shannon Curtis limited the Muskies to just five this in a complete game.

Lakeland jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second game, as Jessica Beaudry (Gladstone, Mich.) grounded out to score a run and Jocelyn Yeager (Elm Grove, Wis.) delivered a two-run double. The Raiders struck right back, though, scoring nine times in the bottom of the first, sending 13 hitters to the plate.

Caten Teff (Alpena, Mich.) later added a two-run double in the third to briefly pull the Muskies within 9-5, but MSOE scored a run in the bottom of the third, two more in the fifth and then closed it out with a run in the sixth to end it on the eight-run rule.

Yeager had two hits in the second game, joining Hailey Jester (Jr.-Salem, Wis.) as Muskies to post two-hit performances on the day. Niki Saviano (Fr.-Orland Park, Ill.) took the loss in the first game and Lindsay Cudecki (Fr.-Chicago, Ill.) was the losing pitcher in the second game, while Rikki Vela (So.-Beach Park, Ill.) pitched in relief in both games and threw seven innings total, allowing 12 hits and seven runs (six earned) with three strikeouts.

Curtis also earned the win in the second game, starting and throwing 4 1/3 innings. Emily Snow was 3-for-4 and drove in five runs in the second game for MSOE.