LISLE, Ill. – Lily Pettit (Fr.-Rewey, Wis.) pitched her first collegiate shutout and the Lakeland University softball team gave her some run support late on the way to a 4-0 win over Benedictine University Friday afternoon.

The Muskies finished with a split of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference twinbill, after the Eagles took another low-scoring game with a 2-0 victory in the opener. The games were the first in conference for both teams this season, and came in a series moved up one day to avoid forecasted wet weather on Saturday.

Pettit pitched a six-hit shutout, striking out two and walking none to earn her second win of the season. The freshman worked out of brief trouble in the first and fourth innings, stranding a pair in both frames, but was in control throughout and finished the game retiring 10 of the final 11 hitters she faced.

Lakeland (4-8 overall, 1-1 NACC) went without a run for the first 11 innings of the doubleheader, but finally broke through in the fifth inning of game two as McKenzie Staudinger (So.-Manitowoc, Wis.) led off with a double and Maddie Raske (So.-Tinley Park, Ill.) followed with an RBI single to make it 1-0.

The Muskies then added on some insurance runs in the seventh with the help of some clutch pinch hitting. Raske singled with one out and Jacie Jones (Jr.-Prairie du Sac, Wis.) came off the bench with a single to advance pinch runner Callie Linders (So.-Griffith, Ind.) to third. Sam Marchant (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis.) then came up as a pinch hitter with two outs and hit a double down the left field line to score both Linders and Jones. Carlie Morrow (Jr.-Menasha, Wis.) then added another two-out hit with a single to score Marchant and make it 4-0.

Raske finished with two hits in the second game and added a hit and a walk in the first game. The latter were some of the few highlights in the opener, though, as the Muskies were held to three hits and had just five baserunners overall as Benedictine pitcher Mckenzie Johnson pitched a shutout, striking out ten.

The Eagles (11-5 overall, 1-1 NACC) scored all of their runs for the day in the first inning. Victoria Duszynski followed up a pair of one-out hits with an RBI single, and Johnson followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

Natalie Ziebell (Fr.-New Holstein, Wis.) started and pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing nine hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Ziebell left with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth, but Melanie Watters (Sr.-Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) came on to retire Mia Giammarese and Jenna Bartke to get out of the inning.

Lakeland is scheduled to next face Marian University on Sunday, with a doubleheader in Fond du Lac set for a noon start.