FOND DU LAC – Ally Fox capped a huge day by scoring on an infield hit in the eighth inning of the second game of a doubleheader and Marian University handed the Lakeland University softball team a pair of bitter losses in the teams' Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader Friday.
The host Sabres rallied late to win the first game 5-3 and then came back late again in the second game, winning 6-5 in extra innings. The Muskies slipped back to 13-15 overall on the season and 6-6 in conference play with the two losses in games that were postponed Wednesday and Thursday before being played under sunny skies on Good Friday.
Lakeland led going into the bottom of the fifth inning in the first game and into the bottom of the sixth in the second. The Muskies also held a 5-4 lead in the top of the eighth inning in the second game before Marian (17-11 overall, 9-5 NACC) rallied once again.
The Sabres scored three times in the fifth inning in the first game, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead on the strength of run-scoring doubles by Peyton Loesch and Alexa Rodriguez. Marian also came back from a 4-2 deficit in the second game, scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth with RBI singles by Melanie Weigel and Andrea Meagher.
Lakeland jumped back on top in the eighth when
Morgan Schiedemeyer (
Jr.-Menomonee Falls, Wis.) led off with a single and beat the throw home while
Cheyenne Mathas (
Fr.-St. John, Ind.) reached on a fielder's choice. The Sabres came back once again, though, as Lindsey Strainis singled with two outs to drive in the tying run, and then Fox scored on an infield single by Taylor Lauscher for the winning run.
Schiedemeyer,
Amber Andersen (
So.-Chicago, Ill.) and
Sabrina Wickman (
So.-Quinnesec, Mich.) all had three hits each on the day for the Muskies, and Schiedemeyer scored three times in the second game. Mathas drove in three runs in game two and
Madi Olson (
So.-Eau Claire, Wis.) also added two hits.
Fox finished with seven hits in eight at bats over the two games for the Sabres from her leadoff spot. Marian outhit Lakeland 11-6 in the first game and 13-9 in the second, but the hosts stranded 17 runners.
The Muskies are back on the field tomorrow when they host Rockford University for a doubleheader starting at noon. It will be Senior Day and the final home games of the season for Lakeland.
