Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

FAYETTE, Iowa - The Northern State University Wolves used some late-inning heroics to rally for an 11-9 eight-inning win to start the day and nearly pulled off the same  feat in Game 2 before falling 10-7 to earn a Saturday split with the Peacocks in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference softball action.

The Wolves moved to 11-24 overall and 4-11 in NSIC play while the Peacocks are now 5-35 overall 2-16 in league games.

NSU held a commanding 6-3 lead after five and a half innings of play in Game 1, but watched the Peacocks come storming back with six runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead.  The rally came with two on and two outs and the bottom of the order coming to the plate.  UIU would not go down easily, however, rattling off five straight two-out hits, three of which went for doubles, to take the lead.

The Wolves rallied in the top of the seventh and tied the game on junior Ashley Gabler's three-run blast, her second of the year.  Gabler also had one of two 2-out RBI singles in the top of the eighth, teaming with freshman Lindsey Hubler to drive in the go-ahead runs.

Junior Kelli Bornander came on in relief to pitch the seventh and eighth innings for the Wolves to earn her first win of the season.  Bornander allowed a hit in each stanza, but stranded both baserunners to preserve the win.

Game 2 saw the Peacocks race out to the early lead, scoring eight runs in the first three innings and holding an 8-0 lead heading into the fifth.  The Wolves staved off an early exit with a run in the fifth and cut it to an 8-6 UIU lead with a five-run sixth inning.  The first five batters of that inning reached base safely and scored.

UIU again pulled out a two-out rally in the sixth inning, this time off the bat of Laura Tackenberg.  The Wolves responded with another score in the top of the seventh, but left the bases loaded to end the inning and the game.

Bornander absorbed the loss for the Wolves despite the complete game effort.  UIU's Brooklyn Koranda went five innings for the win, while Ashley Brown escaped the seventh-inning jam with the save, her first of the year.

The Wolves are off on Sunday but re-take the field on Monday for a conference doubleheader at Bemidji State.  First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. in Bemidji.