PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Carlie Morrow (Jr.-Menasha, Wis.) clubbed a pair of triples as part of a three-hit game and the Lakeland University softball team shook off an opening game loss to defeat Edgewood College 7-4 in the second game of the teams' Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon.

The Muskies' second four-run inning of the day propelled a win in the second game after the Eagles came back for an 8-7 win in the opener. Lakeland is now 7-9 overall and finished 3-1 on its opening weekend of conference play after also sweeping two games from Alverno College on Saturday.

The Muskies built 4-0 leads early in both games but made the second game's margin stand up after a disappointing loss in the first game.

Lakeland got going in the second game by sending nine hitters to the plate in the third inning, including timely two-out singles by Lexi Howard (Fr.-Crown Point, Ind.) and Maddie Raske (So.-Tinley Park, Ill.), the latter putting the Muskies ahead 3-0. Jordan August (Sr.-Schererville, Ind.) also drove in a run with a bases-loaded fielder's choice and Howard scored the fourth run of the inning after Sydney Meyer (Jr.-Crown Point, Ind.) reached on an error.

Lakeland answered a pair of Edgewood (9-17 overall, 4-6 NACC) runs in the top of the fourth with two runs of its own. Sam Marchant (So.-Green Bay, Wis.) opened the inning by just missing a home run with a double off the top of the wall in left center, and Morrow followed two batters later with her first triple of the game to score Marchant and make it 5-2. Reyna Rupnow (So.-Ixonia, Wis.) then popped a hustling bloop double down the left field line to score Morrow for a 6-2 lead.

The Muskies added another run in the sixth when Kendyll Holub (So.-Sturtevant, Wis.) delivered her second pinch hit single of the day with one out and Morrow followed with another triple to make it 7-2. Edgewood scored twice in the seventh inning and briefly threatened for more but Meyer made a diving stop and throw to first to get the Eagles' Grace Ott for the second out and then caught a soft liner by Gracie Halfman to end the game.

Morrow went 3-for-3 at the plate and Raske added two hits in the second game, while Natalie Ziebell (Fr.-New Holstein, Wis.) earned the win in the circle with her second complete game of the weekend and fourth of the season. Ziebell scattered 10 hits over seven innings and allowed four runs (three earned) with one strikeout.

Lakeland got its day off to a good start with four runs in the bottom of the first inning, including booming RBI doubles by Howard and Meyer. The Muskies still led 6-3 after Howard scored while Meyer reached on a fielding error in the third inning, but Lakeland's bats were largely quiet after that and Edgewood scored three times in the fourth to tie and two more in the sixth to take the lead.

The Muskies led 7-6 after Holub hit a single to right field to score August, but the Eagles laced two of their six doubles in the game in the sixth inning. Kya Loffswold followed with a run-scoring single to tie the score, and a foul out behind home plate for the inning's second out ended up leading to the go-ahead run when Loffswold broke for second and then after a throw down Olivia Hebert slid in at home just before the tag to make it 8-7.

Howard went 2-for-3 in the first game but Lakeland was held to seven hits and couldn't capitalize for more runs despite four Edgewood errors and six walks. Lily Pettit (Fr.-Rewey, Wis.) and Melanie Watters (Sr.-Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) combined the pitching effort with Pettit taking the loss allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) with three strikeouts.

The Muskies are back on the field at home Wednesday for a non-conference doubleheader against Mount Mary University starting at 3 p.m.