PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Melanie Watters (So.-Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) and Jordan August (So.-Schererville, Ind.) hit run-scoring doubles and Abby Heitman (Fr.-St. Francis, Wis.) hit the go-ahead single as part of a four-run fifth inning as the Lakeland University softball team rallied to defeat Rockford University in the first game of a doubleheader Sunday.

The Muskies edged the Regents 5-4 in the first game in what turned out to be another Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference split for Lakeland. Rockford won the second game 9-7 in eight innings on a frigid spring day where temperatures topped out at 37 degrees.

The Muskies (13-13 overall, 6-8 NACC) trailed 3-1 going into the bottom of the fifth in the opener before rallying for four runs, all coming after two were out. Hannah Volom (So.-Portage, Ind.) singled with one out and Watters came on to pinch hit after two were down. Watters hit a double the opposite way down the right field line that brought Volom all the way around to score and make it 3-2, and August followed with another RBI double to tie the score at 3-3.

Heitman then followed with a single that scored pinch runner Nyah Odekirk (Jr.-Fond du Lac, Wis.), and she would advance to second on the throw and moved to third on the play after a throwing error. Madi Johnson (Jr.-Vernon Hills, Ill.) then beat out a grounder to shortstop, allowing Heitman to score and make it 5-3. That run would come in huge in the seventh when Rockford catcher Candace Kipp launched a one-out home run to center field that nearly hit a passing car, but Skylar Hall (Jr.-Negaunee, Mich.) recorded the final two outs to get the complete game and her eighth victory of the season, allowing five hits and four runs (one earned) with four strikeouts and five walks.

The Muskies and Regents (11-21 overall, 4-12 NACC) would go back and forth in the second game, with both teams scoring in five different innings and at least one team scoring in seven of the eight frames.

Lakeland rallied in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game and send it to extra innings, with freshman Haylee Dodd (Kenosha, Wis.) manufacturing a run with a walk and then a daring dash on the bases that paid off. After a ground out to third by Sydney Meyer (Fr.-Crown Point, Ind.), Dodd never slowed rounding second and went to third. The throw across the diamond by first baseman Emily Down got away, and Dodd got up and took off for home to score the tying run and knot the game at 7-7.

Rockford would waste little time going back ahead in the eighth. Michaela Froehlich led off with a laser to center field for a double and moved to third after a sacrifice bunt. She then advanced home to score the lead run after catcher Heitman's attempted pickoff throw down to third got away, and Jocelyn Callahan later added a two-out RBI single to make it 9-7. The Muskies would put two on in the bottom of the eighth but the game ended with a called strike three on Heitman, a tough end to a big game for the freshman who went 3-for-5 with a single, double and triple and scored two runs.

Dodd added a pair of run-scoring infield singles to shortstop and Hannah Nelson (Jr.-Loves Park, Ill.) hit her third homer of the season, a two-run shot to left center to close the Muskies within 5-4 in the second inning. Nelson took the loss in the circle, coming on in relief and allowing seven hits and four runs in 6 1/3 innings after Johnson started and went 1 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and five runs.

:Lakeland is back home Wednesday when it hosts Dominican University for two games starting at 3 p.m.