Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Rosemount, Minn. - Going into Friday's supplanted home doubleheader at the Irish Sports Dome in Rosemount, the Bethany softball squad was winners of four straight and the pitching of Nicole Starkson and Shannon Heitz was a key reason why. The duo had only allowed one unearned run in the winning streak.

More of the same continued Friday as Starkson tossed a shutout in the first game and Heitz settled down after allowing some early runs as the Vikings pushed their unbeaten string to six with a sweep of Northland College 5-0 and 7-5.

The last time Bethany played in Rosemount (March 25), senior Kelsey Pekarna twisted her ankle rounding second base and suffered a hairline fracture. She returned to the scene of the crime Friday night and, in her first at-bat since the injury, belted a solo home run to left to get the Vikings on the board in the second inning.

Starkson, who leads the UMAC in ERA and is second in strikeouts, kept mowing down the Lumberjills as she struck out 11 batters and pitched a complete game shutout to lower her ERA to 1.89.

Bethany broke open the game in the bottom of the fifth. The Vikings loaded the bases without getting a hit. Aimee Wiechmann finally delivered a base knock with an RBI single to center scoring Angela Timm. Ashley Jensen then doubled to left center scoring Andrea Donley and Gena Chester. Amanna Berthusen later crossed the plate to make the score 5-0.

In the second game, Heitz allowed five runs, but all of them unearned as Bethany's bats picked up some timely hits in the 7-5 win.

The Vikings fell behind 3-0 in the second inning, but tied the game after the first two batters of the inning struck out. Timm walked; Heitz helped her own cause with a single to right center; and Chester brought them all home with a home run to left.

Bethany scored three more in the third. Starkson hit an RBI single to left bringing home Berthusen and later scored herself coming home when Donley struck out on a dropped third strike and reached base on a drop from the first baseman. Timm knocked in Rebecca Ludewig with an RBI groundout which turned out to be the game winning run.

The sweep over Northland bumps Bethany's winning streak to six and keeps them perfect in the UMAC at 5-0 and improves their overall record to 12-10. The Vikings return to the Irish Sports Dome in Rosemount for another "home" doubleheader on Sunday against St. Scholastica at 6:30 p.m.