Rikki Vela (Sr.-Beach Park, Ill.) and Leah Binsfeld (So.-Kaukauna, Wis.) set the tone with strong pitching performances and Lakeland University swept both games from Alverno College in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference softball doubleheader Monday.

The Muskies held on for a 2-1 win in the first game and then added a 5-2 win in the second game for their second doubleheader sweep of the season. With the wins in the twinbill that originally scheduled for Saturday before being postponed, Lakeland moved back to the .500 mark at 13-13 overall and is now 6-4 in conference play.

Vela started the first game and pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and a run with three strikeouts. The senior just missed her first complete game of the season but earned her second win this year.

Binsfeld came on with a runner at first and two out in the top of the seventh and needed just one pitch to get Kaitlynn Schmick to hit a roller to first base for the game's final out. She picked up her second save of the season, and then came back to pitch a complete game in the second contest.

Binsfeld allowed eight hits and two runs with one strikeout in game two and cruised through five innings, allowing just two hits before Alverno (9-17 overall, 0-10 NACC) warmed up late. By then, Lakeland held a 5-0 lead and plenty of cushion even as the guests strung together four straight hits in scoring twice in the sixth, and also put two runners on in the seventh.

The Muskies had some struggles of their own offensively but three big innings on the day would be all that was needed.

Lakeland scored its only runs of the first game in the fourth inning with pinch runner Jacy Klaske (Fr.-Fond du lac, Wis.) scampering home on a wild pitch and Ally Lira (So.-Elk Grove Village, Ill.) coming in to score on a ground out by Meghan Etten (Sr.-Elkhorn, Wis.).

The Muskies then got off to a quick start in the second game, scoring twice in the bottom of the first. Etten led off with a triple and scored on a bunt by Cheyenne Mathas (Fr.-St. John, Ind.), and Sabrina Wickman (So.-Quinnesec, Mich.) later scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead.

Both teams were quiet until the fifth, when Lakeland scored three insurance runs. Amber Andersen (So.-Chicago, Ill.) delivered a big two-out, two-run single to center field to score two runs, and Binsfeld followed with an RBI single for a 5-0 lead.

Andersen and Lira both finished with three-hit days, including both with a pair of hits in the first game. Binsfeld also went 2-for-3 in the second game, and in all nine different players finished with hits on the day.

Lakeland is back on the diamond again tomorrow when it travels to face Wisconsin Lutheran College at 3 p.m. in Milwaukee.