MONTGOMERY, Ill. – The Lakeland University softball team guaranteed a longer stay at Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament and is one of the final four teams standing after winning twice Thursday on the first day of the tourney at Aurora University's Bedrosian Stadium.
The fifth-seeded Muskies came back to defeat No. 8 seed Wisconsin Lutheran College 5-4 in their first game of the day, and then eliminated the home team and No. 4 seed Aurora 8-4. Lakeland won back-to-back win-or-out games to advance out of the single-elimination round of the tourney and now moves to the double-elimination portion, where it will face top seed Dominican University Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.
The Muskies (26-15-1 overall) are the lowest seeded team remaining and join Dominican, No. 2 Concordia University Wisconsin and No. 3 Benedictine University in the final four, which will be played through the remainder of the weekend. All teams will play once on Friday and then play continues Saturday and then Sunday for the final two teams remaining.
Lakeland needed a dramatic rally to win the opening game and then twice answered Aurora rallies to retake the lead in the second game. A cast of individuals delivered clutch performances at the right time throughout the day, including
Madelyn Abler (
Fr.-Random Lake, Wis.) and
Lily Pettit (
So.-Rewey, Wis.) in the opener and Pettit,
Callie Linders (
Jr.-Griffith, Ind.),
Abby Heitman (
Sr.-St. Francis, Wis.) and
Lexi Howard (
So.-Crown Point, Ind.) in the second game, as the Muskies moved to the NACC tourney final four for the second time in three years.
Lakeland trailed 4-2 going into the bottom of the sixth inning of the opener but the seeds for a rally were planted when
Mackenzie Staudinger (
Jr.-Manitowoc, Wis.) led off with a walk and Howard followed with a double to put runners at second and third with no outs.
Maddie Raske (
Jr.-Tinley Park, Ill.) then hit a bloop single to drive in a run, and with two outs Abler hit a 2-2 pitch deep over the head of the center fielder to drive in the tying and go-ahead runs with a triple to give the Muskies a 5-4 lead.
Pettit worked out of brief trouble after Wisconsin Lutheran (18-23 overall) put runners at first and second with one out in the seventh, getting a line out and a ground out to first base to end the game. Pettit finished throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, including coming on and getting out of the fifth inning with no further damage after the Warriors had scored three runs to take the lead and had another runner at third base with one out.
The Muskies and Aurora (26-15 overall) then went back and forth in the early innings of their game, with lead changes or ties in each of the first four innings.
Heitman drove in three runs over the first two frames, including an RBI single to score Linders in the first. The Spartans scored twice in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead, but Lakeland came back with three in the second, including a run-scoring single by Linders and later a two-out, two-run single by Heitman to make it 4-2.
Aurora answered again with two runs in the bottom of the third, including the Spartans' third and fourth unearned runs of the game, but the Muskies took the lead for good in the fourth as
Sam Marchant (
Sr.-Green Bay, Wis.), Linders and
Sydney Meyer (
Sr.-Crown Point, Ind.) all reached on walks and Howard hit a two-run single for a 6-4 lead. Lakeland added on single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, with pinch runner
Kaylee Hunt (
So.-St. Paul Park, Minn.) scoring on a passed ball in the sixth and
Carlie Morrow (
Sr.-Menasha, Wis.) went all the way around the bases in the seventh with a triple and then scored on an error on the play.
Pettit earned her second win in relief of the day, throwing four scoreless innings and allowing just two hits. Pettit relieved
Natalie Ziebell (
So.-New Holstein, Wis.) in both games, including the second when Ziebell pitched three innings and allowed seven hits and four unearned runs after three Muskies errors early.
Howard went 2-for-3 in the first game with two runs scored while Heitman went 2-for-4 in the second with three RBIs. Marchant also was 2-for-3 and scored twice in the second game, coming back to catch and play the full second game after leaving the first game late with an injury.
Lakeland faces Dominican at 4 p.m. on Friday with Concordia Wisconsin and Benedictine to follow at 6:30 p.m. Play then continues Saturday with the losing teams from Friday facing off in an elimination game at 11 a.m. with the winners from Friday playing at 1:30 p.m.
