St. Bonifacius, Minn. – The Polars softball team battled with Northwestern on Saturday and fell by scores of 5-0 and 9-8.
Game one saw the Eagles jump out to an early 1-0 lead and extend that lead to 2-0 in the 4th inning. Crown stranded a runner in both the 4th and 5th innings. After an error allowed a few more runs to score for Northwestern, the Polars were unable to push across any runs as Crown fell 5-0. The Polars totaled just 4 hits as a team with all of them coming from different players. Abbie Carroll pitched a complete game allowing just 2 earned runs.
Crown jumped out in front in game two after a Maliya Martinez RBI single scored one run and Itzel Valles stole home to give the Polars a 2-0 lead. The Eagles answered with one run in the 2nd inning but it was matched with an RBI single from Emmy Romportl. The Eagles an Polars traded runs in the 3rd and Crown took the 4-3 lead after an Abbey Underdahl single drove in Valles.
Crown tried to mount a comeback after the Eagles pushed across five runs in the 4th inning with four of them coming on a grand slam, but the Polars fell short stranding the winning run on first base in the 9-8 loss. Romportl, Valles, and Underdahl each had two hits in the game. Lilienthal tabbed two RBI's and a home run that she sent out to left field. Romportl pitched a complete game.
Crown falls to 17-20 on the season and will finish UMAC play with a record of 8-10.
