ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston Softball team battled but fell short 4-2 and 11-3 in two road contests against the St. Cloud State University Huskies. Minnesota Crookston would be in the driver's seat for the majority of the first game but would give up untimely runs that would see the Golden Eagles to defeat. An offensive explosion in the sixth and seventh inning of game two would ultimately lead the Huskies to their second win of the day. UMC drops to 7-25 overall and 1-11 in conference. The Huskies improve to 22-17 overall and 8-6 in conference play.

In the first inning of game one, pitcher Mikayla Jones (Fr., P/IF, Huxley, Iowa) would be put in a situation with only one out with two runners on second and third threatening to score. She would rise to the occasion to get two subsequent strike outs to put the top of the inning to rest.

The Golden Eagles would take this opportunity to jump on the Huskies early by scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning. Jozie Garner (Jr., OF, Eureka, Kan.) would find herself at second base with Victoria Bayliss (So., 2B/OF/P, West Bloomfield, Mich.) at bat. Garner would see an opportunity to score after a throwing error by Megan Hedstrom (Jr., P/UT, Palatine, Ill.) and would make it to home safe for the Golden Eagles first score of the game. Bayliss would then find herself at third when Alexis Khoshaba (Sr., OF, Richmond, British Columbia) hit a single to left field and ran in for her 20^th run of the season to put her team up 2-0. Khoshaba received the only RBI of the game for UMC. The inning would conclude with a ground out to second.

UMC would fend off St. Cloud State yet again in the second inning. Minnesota Crookston would give up no hits in the inning but the Huskies would turnaround and return the favor and also give up no hits in the bottom of the second.

St. Cloud State would get on the board for the first time in the game in the third as Abby Bunnell (Jr., OF, Maple Grove, Minn.) would cross the plate for the score to put the score at 2-1 in favor of UMC.

Husky Pitching would be in full effect for the rest of the game as Hedstrum would give up only one hit in the ensuing four frames. St. Cloud State would slowly take control of the game as they tied it up in the fifth off of a Jaiden Lund (Fr., OF, Big Lake, Minn.) home run and took the lead with another home run from Jessica Goerger (Jr., 1B, Mankato, Minn.) in the sixth. The Huskies would score their final run in the seventh en route to a 4-2 victory over the Golden Eagles.

In game two, batting woes continued as Minnesota Crookston struggled to find consistency hitting at the plate.

The Huskies would get on the board early after a triple to left field that led to the first run of the game. St. Cloud would again score one run in the second to put the Huskies up 2-0.

In the top of the fourth, pitcher Bailey Braatz (Jr., P/DP, Buffalo, Minn.) would only give up one hit but two costly fielding errors would lead to two Husky runs to put the score at 4-0.

After a scoreless fifth inning for both teams, St. Cloud State would come alive in the sixth as they started out the frame with a homerun to left field. Momentum began to build for the Huskies as Jaiden Lund stole second and Megan Larkin (Jr., MI, Winchester, Oregon) stole home successively. Lund would then go on to score capitalizing on another fielding error to put the Huskies up 8-0

Minnesota Crookston would finally score in the bottom of the sixth inning when Maggie Morales (Fr., OF, Tuscon, Ariz.) hit a single to the short stop resulting in a run for Morgan Duda (Fr., IF, Clinton Township, Mich.). With one runner left on, Allison Foley (Sr., SS, Lockport, Ill.) would line out to third base to end the inning with a score of 8-1.

St. Cloud State would put a stamp on the game in the top of the seventh when Lund hit a gut wrenching home run with two on base to tack on another three scores and eliminate any thoughts of a comeback by the Golden Eagles.

Minnesota Crookston had a steep uphill battle to fight and would manage to score two runs but that would be as good as it gets as the St. Cloud State Huskies go on to win the contest 11-3.

The Golden Eagles will travel to Wayne, Neb. as they face Wayne State College on Saturday April 9 in a set of conference games. The games will begin at 12 P.M. and 2 P.M. at the Pete Chapman Softball Complex.