DULUTH, Minn.-- The Bethany Lutheran softball team (20-16 overall) defeated Northland 8-0 in five innings Thursday to advance in the UMAC Tournament. The Vikings have reached the 20-win season mark for the third time in program history and second time in three years.
 
In the first inning, senior Alyssa Kosta (Redding, Calif.) gave Bethany the early 1-0 lead with her RBI single, which drove in freshman Jenna Wahl (Holmen, Wis.). Classmate Ana Christofferson (Mankato, Minn.) tripled in Kosta for the 2-0 lead. Christofferson then scored on a fielding error to make it 3-0.
 
In the second, sophomore Katelyn Halbach (Osage, Iowa) scored on freshman Jenna Wahl's (Holmen, Wis.) groundout. Junior Zoe Kinakin (Victoria, British Columbia) doubled in senior Morgan Mashlan (Brandon, SD) and freshman Haley Stockman (Mankato, Minn.) sacrificed in Kinakin to make it 6-0.
 
Mashlan drove in senior Eden Ambrose (Hugo, Minn.) in the third to push the margin to 7-0.
 
Wahl drove in the winning run with her single down the right field line which scored freshman Brynja Mielke (Sleepy Eye, Minn.) to seal the shortened game.  
 
Junior Kassidy Cunningham (Portage La Prairie, Manitoba) set the BLC record in the conference tournament with nine strikeouts. The old mark was seven, which previously occurred twice in the 2018 tournament. Cunningham earned the complete game win in the circle and fanned a career-best.
 
Wahl was 2-4 and Mashlan and Kosta were 2-3.
 
BLC will face top-seed St. Scholastica Friday at 2 p.m.

Tournament Bracket
Thursday, May 13
Game 1: 10 am ‐ #4 Northland College vs. #5 UW‐Superior, UWS won 7-2
Game 2: 12 pm ‐ #2 Bethany Lutheran College vs. #3 University of Northwestern; UNW won 5-2
Game 3: 4 pm ‐ #1 College of St. Scholastica vs. #5 UW-Superior; UWS won 5-4 in 8 innings
Game 4: 6 pm – #4 Northland vs. #2 Bethany Lutheran; BLC won 8-0

Friday, May 14
Game 5: 12 pm – #3 Northwestern vs. #5 UW-Superior; UNW won 2-1 in 9 innings
Game 6: 2 pm – #1 St. Scholastica vs. #2 Bethany Lutheran; BLC won 11-8
Game 7: 4 pm –#5 UW-Superior vs. #2 Bethany Lutheran

Saturday, May 15
Game 8: 12 pm – #3 Northwestern vs. Winner of Game 7
Game 9: 2 pm – If necessary game (if undefeated team entering game 8 would lose in game 8).