ABERDEEN, S.D. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead softball team dropped a pair of games to first-place Minnesota State on Saturday in Aberdeen, S.D., losing 6-0 and 7-3.

Minnesota State capitalized on Dragon errors to score six unearned runs in the doubleheader.

"Our pitching was pretty solid for the most part, but we gave up some unearned runs in both games which were costly," MSUM head coach Kelsey Fehl said. "Defensively, we need to be consistent and make the plays to get out of innings. We started slow offensively in the first game but we were able to break through a little bit in the second game. We just need to keep working at getting quality at-bats and stringing hits together to produce more runs."

In the opener, freshman shortstop Taylor Roddie had the lone Dragon hit, while junior first baseman Lauren Meeker reached on a walk. Freshman catcher Savanah Tweet threw out two runners trying to steal.

Senior Morgan Nybo took the loss on the mound, going the distance. She allowed six runs, but only three were earned. She struck out five and walked seven. MSUM committed five errors in the game.

Minnesota State scored two runs in the third, two in the fourth and added two more insurance runs in the seventh to post the win.

In the second game, the Dragon offense warmed up with five hits and three runs. Senior left fielder Kristy Bruni was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, while freshman third baseman Morgan Anderson was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Junior center fielder Carly Williamson, junior second baseman Jill Fox and sophomore designated hitter Sydney Beck added hits for MSUM.

Senior pitcher Kristen Nordby took the loss, going five innings. She struck out three and walked none and allowed four runs, two earned. Redshirt freshman Gabby Williams pitched two innings and allowed three runs (two earned).

MSUM fell behind 4-0 in the second game, but cut the lead in half in the fourth. Williamson singled, and two outs later, Bruni crushed a homer into the wind in left field for a home run, bringing the Dragons within 4-2.

The Mavericks scored a pair of two-out runs in the sixth to push the lead to 6-2, and added another in the seventh to make it 7-2. The Dragons put together a threat with two outs in the seventh, as Fox and Beck hit back-to-back singles. Anderson singled to right field, scoring Fox and cutting the gap to 7-3. The Dragons had the tying run on deck but saw the inning and game ended on a groundout.

MSUM is back in action on Sunday against Concordia-St. Paul. The doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. at Manor Field in Aberdeen, S.D.