MONTGOMERY, Ill. – Peyton Harlow (So.-La Porte, Ind.) doubled to drive in two runs in the sixth inning, including the go-ahead run, and the Lakeland University softball team fought off elimination from the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament with a 4-1 win over Marian University Saturday late afternoon.

The second-seeded Muskies defeated the No. 6 seed Sabres by a 4-1 score for the second time in two days, this time eliminating Marian. Lakeland continued to extend its school single-season wins record to 34 and advanced to the championship of the tourney and will face top seed Dominican University on Sunday at noon.

The Muskies (34-9 overall) will need to defeat the Stars twice on Sunday to win their first-ever NACC Tournament title, after Dominican defeated Lakeland 5-1 earlier on Saturday. The Stars are 2-0 in the double-elimination tourney, meaning the Muskies need to win Game 6 on Sunday and then would need to also take a winner-take-all Game 7 that would be played at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, with a berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament on the line.

Lakeland struggled at the plate most of the day and had fallen behind 1-0 against Marian (25-20 overall) in the fourth inning before coming alive in its final two at bats. The Muskies recorded seven of their 13 hits over the fifth and sixth innings, including four hits in the deciding fifth inning rally.

Pitcher Madi Johnson (Sr.-Vernon Hills, Ill.) helped her cause with a leadoff triple in the fifth, and Juliana Hall (Sr.-Portage, Ind.) wasted no time tying the game with a single to score Johnson. Maddie Raske (Fr.-Tinley Park, Ill.) then doubled to put runners at second and third, and Harlow followed two batters later with a double to left center to score Hall and Raske for Lakeland's first lead of the day.

The Muskies added on another run in the sixth, after Carlie Morrow (So.-Menasha, Wis.) led off with a single, Hannah Nelson (Sr.-Loves Park, Ill.) reached on an infield single and Johnson also beat out a bunt to load the bases. Hall hit a sacrifice fly to extend the lead, and Johnson closed the game out with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, finishing the game retiring the final seven Marian batters.

Johnson allowed five hits in a complete game victory for her 14th win of the season, and also was one of five Muskies with two hits each. Hall, Morrow, Nelson and Raske also all had two hits as Lakeland finished 4-0 against Marian this season, including handing the Sabres their only four losses over their final 13 games.

The Muskies did not get off to a good start to the day, falling behind early against Dominican (37-5 overall). The Stars put their first two batters of the game on base and scored twice in the first inning, including the first run scoring on a wild pitch and the second on a sacrifice fly.

Dominican would add two more runs in the third, taking advantage of a pair of Lakeland errors, and would add another unearned run in the fifth after the Muskies' third error of the game. The mistakes were too much to overcome as Lakeland was again flummoxed by Stars pitcher Kayla Faber-Cournane, who shut down the Muskies for the second time this season.

Faber-Cournane pitched a two-hit shutout in the second game of the teams' split doubleheader April 21, holding the Muskies down without a strikeout, and Saturday she held Lakeland to three hits, again without a strikeout. The Muskies did get on the board in their final at bat as Johnson led off the seventh with a double, reached third on a wild pitch and scored on Hall's sacrifice fly.

Skylar Hall (Sr.-Negaunee, Mich.) took the loss against Dominican, allowing seven hits and five runs (three earned) in a complete game.