PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Natalie Ziebell (So.-New Holstein, Wis.) and Lily Pettit (So.-Rewey, Wis.) pitched back-to-back shutouts and the Lakeland University softball team scored a single run late in both games to sweep a doubleheader against Wisconsin Lutheran College Monday afternoon.

Carlie Morrow (Sr.-Menasha, Wis.) and Maddie Raske (Jr.-Tinley Park, Ill.) drove in the winning runs and the Muskies defeated the Warriors by identical 1-0 scores in both games for their fourth and fifth shutout wins of the season. Lakeland improved to 13-10-1 overall and 5-3 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference after posting shutouts in consecutive games for the first time since 2020 and sweeping both ends of a doubleheader via shutout since blanking Maranatha Baptist by scores of 11-0 and 15-0 April 30, 2010.

The Muskies did just enough offensively to win a pair of contests dominated by pitching. The teams combined for just 21 hits over the two games, with Lakeland posting six hits in both games while Ziebell pitched a five-hitter in the first game against Wisconsin Lutheran (11-13 overall, 5-5 NACC) and Pettit allowed just four hits in the second.

Lakeland's winning rally in the first game started when Sam Marchant (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis.) led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and Callie Linders (Jr.-Griffith, Ind.) walked. Sydney Meyer (Sr.-Crown Point, Ind.) then reached on an error while runners were safe all around, and Morrow came up with the bases loaded and nobody out. The senior was clipped by a 1-1 pitch by WLC reliever Alyssa Dinnauer, and the 29th time being hit by a pitch in her Muskies career drove in pinch runner Kaylee Hunt (So.-St. Paul Park, Minn.) with the winning run.

Ziebell outdueled Wisconsin Lutheran's Teagan Piven, with Ziebell allowing five hits with two strikeouts and four walks. Piven took the loss, allowing six hits in six-plus innings while striking out three, walking five, and surrendering the hit to Marchant that started the final rally.

Pettit and Dinnauer took turns mowing down the opponents in the second game, matching zeros on the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth. McKenzie Staudinger (Jr.-Manitowoc, Wis.) singled to lead off the inning and Abby Heitman (Sr.-St. Francis, Wis.) bunted her over to second base. Raske then came up with two outs and singled to right field to score Staudinger with the go-ahead run, and Pettit gave up a leadoff single in the seventh but retired the next three batters to finish off her first shutout this season and third of her career.

Pettit allowed four hits with two strikeouts and one walks in the win, while Dinnauer pitched a complete game as well, allowing six hits while striking out three. Staudinger was the lone Muskie on the day to finish with three hits, including going 2-for-3 in the second game.

The Muskies are home again Thursday to face Dominican University for two games starting at 3 p.m.