MANKATO, Minn.-- The Bethany Lutheran softball team (19-15 overall, 11-4 UMAC) split with Martin Luther (10-14, 8-8) Monday. The Knights claimed the first game 13-5, and the Vikings won the nightcap, 13-8.
 
In the opener, Martin Luther jumped to the early 4-0 lead after its first at-bats. BLC cut the margin to one with three runs in its first. The Knights added two in the second to make it 6-3.
 
In the third, freshman Haley Stockman (Mankato, Minn.) scored on sophomore Liz Milam's (Le Sueur, Minn.) single to right to slice the lead to two.
 
MLC used another four-run inning in the fifth and added one in the sixth to extend the lead to 11-4.
 
Sophomore Katelyn Halbach (Osage, Iowa) scored on an error in the sixth for the final run for Bethany in the first meeting. The Knights tallied two in the seventh for their final runs.
 
Home runs were the theme of the second game. MLC had a solo shot in the first for the early 1-0 lead.  
 
Junior Zoe Kinakin (Victoria, British Columbia) scored on a wild pitch to even the game in the bottom of the first. In the second, pinch runner junior Hannah Dosch (Sioux Falls, SD) scored on a bases loaded walk and then Kinakin had a three-run double for the go-ahead runs.
 
Back-to-back home runs by the Knights in the third made it 5-3.
 
Stockman had a leadoff solo shot in the third and Martin Luther evened it on a three-run homer in the fourth.
 
Freshman Ana Christofferson (Mankato, Minn.) had a solo roundtripper in the fourth to take the 7-6 lead.
 
An RBI single by the Knights in the fifth tied it again, this time at seven all. A six-run fifth inning for BLC made it 13-7. Highlights included a two-run double by senior Alyssa Kosta (Redding, Calif.) and a two-run single from Stockman.
 
MLC plated its final run in the sixth on an RBI double.

Christofferson went 3-4 with two runs and two RBI.
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Bethany is off from competition until the UMAC Tournament next week. The Vikings will be the No. 2 seed and will learn game opponent when league play concludes this weekend for the rest of the teams.