MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Hannah Hornsby (Brookville, Ind.) hit a go-ahead solo home run in the top of the seventh inning and the Lakeland University softball team defeated Milwaukee School of Engineering 4-3 in the second game to pick up a critical Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader split Sunday afternoon.

The Muskies followed up a 9-5 loss in the first game with their first win this season over a nationally ranked team, taking down the team ranked 16th in the most recent NFCA/NCAA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll. Lakeland improved to 18-14 overall this season, with only the continuation on Tuesday of a suspended game against Concordia University Wisconsin last night left in the team's regular season.

Hornsby hit her eighth home run of the season, tied for the second-most by a Lakeland softball player in program history, and it's possible the blast may wind up being the one that put the Muskies in the NACC Tournament later this week. The win puts Lakeland at 13-10 in conference games and still in the mix of a group of three teams including Dominican University and Edgewood College playing for the final two spots available in the six-team tourney.

With Dominican finishing 13-11 in the NACC and Edgewood currently at 12-10, the Muskies' most direct path to the tourney relies on Edgewood's doubleheader at St. Norbert College tomorrow. A sweep by either Edgewood or St. Norbert would lock Lakeland into the tourney, with Edgewood taking the fifth spot with two wins and the Muskies clinching the No. 6 seed based on a regular season sweep of Dominican. A St. Norbert sweep would put Lakeland as well as Dominican in the field, while a split on Monday would result in a complicated scenario that would then involve tiebreakers and the Muskies' outstanding suspended game against Concordia Wisconsin, one CUW led 13-0 after two innings before rains fell yesterday.

Hornsby's home run came with one out in the top of the seventh and broke a 3-3 tie. Her eighth round-tripper of the season and eighth in the last 16 days is tied with Heather Haeflinger in 2013 for the second-most in a season at Lakeland, behind only K.C. Blahnik hitting ten home runs in 2009.

The final inning then came down to Skylar Hall (So.-Negaunee, Mich.) having to hold the Raiders (23-7 overall, 16-6 NACC), and the Muskies' pitcher got the first out before Delaney Martino singled with one out. Martino moved to second when leadoff hitter Kara McKenna hit a grounder back to the pitcher, and Hall got Faith Matta to line out to shortstop Elizabeth Rohr (Fr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) to end the game.

Rohr also played a big role earlier in the game when she hit a two-run homer in the second inning for her first collegiate home run giving Lakeland a 2-0 lead. The Muskies extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Hornsby after Cheyenne Mathas (Sr.-St. John, Ind.) led off the inning with a double and was sacrificed to third, but MSOE came back with two in the bottom of the fourth and another in the fifth to tie the game and set up a dramatic final two innings.

Hall went the distance and earned her seventh win of the season, allowing ten hits and three runs (two earned) with two strikeouts. Rohr and Hannah Volom (Fr.-Portage, Ind.) both posted two hits each.

The Muskies also got off to a good start in the first game, taking a 2-0 lead in the first when Juliana Hall (Jr.-Portage, Ind.) hit a two-run home run. The Raiders would assert themselves in the second and third innings, though, scoring a combined eight runs to take control.

McKenna drove in three runs and Grace Salaja added a two-run single as MSOE posted ten of its 17 hits over those two innings. Lakeland made it closer late with Hannah Nelson (So.-Loves Park, Ill.) reaching on an error with the bases loaded in the fourth and then Mathas and Jordan August (Fr.-Schererville, Ind.) both delivered RBI singles in the seventh.

Makenna Hullinger (Fr.-St. John, Ind.) had a tough outing in the circle, allowing nine hits and eight runs with two strikeouts in two-plus innings. Nelson came on and allowed eight hits and one run in four innings of relief.