FOND DU LAC, Wis. – Concordia University Wisconsin hit two home runs in the first inning as part of an early flurry of runs and defeated the Lakeland University softball team 10-0 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference North Division Tournament Thursday night.

The fourth-seeded Muskies will have to have to fight off elimination the rest of the way after falling to the top-seeded Falcons in the second game of the tourney. Lakeland (12-22-1 overall) next will face an elimination game Friday against No. 3 seed and tourney host Marian University at 1 p.m.

The two teams contested four closely played games last weekend, where Concordia won three but Lakeland was in every game and picked up a 2-1 win in the series finale Sunday. This time, the Falcons asserted their superiority quickly in the teams' fifth meeting this season, scoring early and often. Concordia (29-6 overall) scored three times in the first inning and four more in the second to take a quick 7-0 lead, and the Falcons closed the game out in five innings due to the eight-run rule.

Taylor Kuske and Claudia Utz hit back-to-back home runs in the first, setting the tone for huge games by CUW's 3-4-5 hitters. Kuske, Utz and Kelsey Bollon combined for six hits, nine runs batted in and seven runs scored, including Bollon and Utz both driving in a pair of runs in the four-run third.

The Falcons' early attack was more than enough for Gina Followell, who continued her dominant pitching. Followell allowed just two hits and struck out seven in the five-inning complete game, lowering her earned run average to 0.85 this season.

The Muskies did put runners on first and second with one out in the top of the first when Hannah Nelson (Fr.-Loves Park, Ill.) walked and Cheyenne Mathas (Jr.-St. John, Ind.) singled, but Lakeland would have just three base runners the rest of the game. Ally Lira (Sr.-Elk Grove Village, Ill.) reached on an error in the second and singled in the fifth, getting as far as third base, and Nelson also reached after a dropped third strike in the third inning.

Leah Binsfeld (Sr.-Kaukauna, Wis.) took the loss pitching, allowing seven hits and six runs in 1 2/3 innings. Madi Johnson (Fr.-Vernon Hills, Ill.) also allowed four runs (two earned) in 1 2/3, and Nelson came on for the final two outs of the fourth inning.

Second-seeded Milwaukee School of Engineering defeated Marian 5-4 in the tourney's first game Thursday, scoring the go-ahead run in the fifth inning.

NACC North Tournament results, schedule and info