Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Northern State University softball squad ran its win streak to three games on Monday with a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader sweep of Bemidji State in a pair of rescheduled games.  The Wolves, playing their third doubleheader in the last three days, claimed a decisive 5-inning 12-3 win in Game 1 before edging the host Beavers in a 2-1 decision in the nightcap.

Monday's sweep gives the Wolves three straight wins over Bemidji State in the 2009 season after taking a 6-2 win during the early-season St. Cloud State Husky Dome Invitational.  NSU improved to 6-29 on the year and 3-17 in NSIC play, while the Beavers slipped to 8-20 overall and 3-15 in the loop.

After three scoreless innings to start the day, the Wolves put on a hitting clinic in the fourth and fifth innings of Game 1, taking a 3-0 lead in top of the fourth before erupting for nine runs on seven hits and a pair of errors in the fifth.

The Wolves put their first five batters safely on base before recording their first out of the inning.  They then sandwiched three singles around a 1-out walk to break the inning and the game wide open.  Freshman Rachel South had a pair of hits in that stanza, leading off the inning with a single, then rifling a 1-out RBI single to right that scored senior Heather Olson.  Freshman Whitney Luhring finished off the inning with a 2-RBI double.

The Beavers thwarted the shut-out bid in their half of the fifth, scoring three runs with one out before the NSU defense clamped down and finished out the inning.

Freshman Kelli Bornander picked up her second win of the season, going four and a third innings before freshman Kadie Lydon came on in relief to finish out the game.  Bornander notched four strikeouts while allowing just six hits in the win.

Game 2 proved to be a much different affair, as the Wolves and senior pitcher Breanna Milnes gave up an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.  Both teams then notched a string of zeros through the heart of the game, before the Wolves stormed back in the top of the seventh with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead, while Milnes set down the Beavers in order in the bottom of the inning to preserve the win.  The senior right-hander notched two of her five strikeouts on the day in that inning, improving to 4-15 on the year with the win.

NSU will continue its torrid streak of games with yet another NSIC doubleheader on Tuesday.  The Wolves travel to Minnesota Duluth to take on the Bulldogs in a 1 p.m. start.