Box Score MANKATO, Minn. - In two polar opposite contests on Tuesday afternoon, the Bethany Lutheran softball team won a pitchers duel 5-1 in the opener before the teams combined for 32 hits in a game two that was suspended due to darkness tied at 12-12.

Bethany 5 - 1 Northwestern

After two straight outs to start the contest, the Eagles would get a pair of hits to place a runner in scoring position but Kayla Senne would get out of the jam with a groundout. The Bethany offense would go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first and that became a theme for both teams as the two pitchers settled in. Neither team had a runner reach base in the second or third until that streak was broken in the fourth with a single from the Eagles but Senne would work around it to keep the Eagles scoreless.

Matching Senne's shutout was Northwestern starter Emma Heffron, who continued to impress on the mound as she didn't allow a baserunner and was perfect through four innings. After a scoreless top of the fifth, the Vikings would finally crack the code on the Eagle in the circle. A hard hit ball from Ana Christofferson would result in a UNW error to start the inning before Haley Stockman reached on a bunt single and Aliya Kehler walked to load the bases. Elizabeth Cizek would then hit a sacrifice fly to plate the game's first run with both other runners advancing on the throw. Brynja Mielke plated another run with a hard groundout before a wild pitch brought a third run across to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead.

After the Eagles started a threat with one out and two baserunners in the top of the sixth inning, Senne would induce a ground ball that Kaija Mork would flip to Christofferson who would complete the double play with a toss to first to get out of the jam. 

Christofferson would then triple off the left field fence to start the sixth with Stockman following her with a single up the middle to plate another run. After an Aliya Kehler base hit, Cizek would slash a single to plate Stockman and give the Vikings a 5-0 lead heading to the seventh. 

Northwestern would get a triple to open the seventh and eventually bring the run in but Senne would close the game down for the win.

Bethany had just five hits in the contest with Stockman accumulating two of them. 

Senne allowed just the one run, striking out five Eagles for the win.

Bethany 12 - 12 Northwestern - tied heading into eighth inning

Everything that the first game wasn't, the second made up for. Northwestern got things going from the jump in game two, drawing a walk before finding a pair of base hits to plate the games first run. A big Bethany error as well as another base hit would allow a few more runs to cross as the Eagles took a 3-0 lead. 

Bethany would go down quickly in the bottom half before Northwestern came up with another run in the second thanks to a pair of hits to go up four. The Vikings would load the bases in the bottom of the second and get one run thanks to a sac fly but the Eagles would get out of the jam and hold a 4-1 lead after two. UNW continued to add to their lead over the next two innings as they used four hits to plate three runs in the third and five hits to plate two more in the fourth and held a 9-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth. 

Cizek opened the bottom of the fourth with a bunt single and two batters later an Eagle error would allow her to score and it seemed to breathe life back into the Vikings. Katelyn Halbach was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base and after a flyout, Emily Doyle stepped to the plate and delivered with a two-run double to left field to cut the deficit to 9-4.

After a scoreless fifth inning from Kaija Mork on the mound, Bethany opened the bottom of the inning with hits from Stockman and Kehler. A fielders choice got the Eagles their first out of the inning but they followed that up with a costly error that loaded the bases for the Vikings. After Madisen Borek came up big for Bethany with an RBI single, the Eagles would cut down a run at home with another fielders choice to leave the bases loaded with two outs and just one run across in the inning thus far. A second UNW error in the inning was extremely costly though, as an errant throw to first base allowed two runners to score and kept two in scoring position. Doyle came up big for the second inning in a row, delivering a two-RBI single to right center to tie things up at 9-9 as the teams headed to the sixth. 

The Eagles would start a big threat in the top of the sixth, loading the bases with nobody out before delivering a sac fly to break the tie and take a one run lead. A walk with one out would load the bases again where the Eagles hit a line drive to center field that Haley Stockman would haul in and toss into second base for a double play as the runner was caught too far off the base.

Stockman and Cizek would reach base to start the bottom of the sixth and find themselves on second and third with one out in the inning. Bailey Erlandson then stepped up and hit a grounder back to the pitcher where the Eagle in the circle made an errant throw trying to get Stockman that found its way to the backstop and Cizek hustled all the way from second to cross the plate on the play and put the Vikings back in the lead. Bethany would eventually get runners back to second and third but the Eagles would evade the threat and trail by one heading into the seventh. 

Northwestern wouldn't go away, as they would get a pair of singles to start the seventh followed by a catcher's interference to load the bases. Another single would plate a pair of runs and put runners at second and third as the Eagles retook the lead and had runners at first and second with no outs. Senne, who started the contest and came out after two innings, re-entered in the sixth and got out of the jam in a huge way in the seventh as she induced an infield fly followed by a pair of strikeouts to keep the deficit at one entering the bottom of the seventh. 

Bethany would start the bottom of the seventh off strong, as they used a UNW error, followed by a bunt single from Christofferson and single to left by Stockman to load the bases with no one out. A fielder's choice to cut down the run at home followed by a lineout keep the Eagles in the lead with just one out remaining. Erlandson stepped up as the Vikings final gasp and hit a grounder to second that was mishandled and allowed a run to score and even things at 12. The Eagles would get a strikeout with the bases loaded though to neutralize the threat and send things to the eighth. 

With the game tied at 12 headed to the eighth inning, it was suspended due to darkness with a date to finish the game to be announced.