MOORHEAD, Minn. – A six-run fourth inning proved to be the difference as the Minnesota State University Moorhead softball team beat UMary, 6-4 in Game 2 of a doubleheader on Tuesday in Moorhead, Minn. The win gave MSUM a split on the day as the Dragons lost a 7-6 heartbreaker in the opener.
 
MSUM is 12-25 overall and 6-14 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference while UMary is 17-23 overall and 8-12 in the league.
 
"We came out and put up a good fight today," MSUM head coach Amanda Reckamp said. "Six games straight is all about gritting it out and we pulled it together today to give ourselves an opportunity to win. Pitchers responded well after a tough outing day on Monday and our offense kept us in the game."
 
In the Game 2 win, freshman catcher Jordie McNeilly was 1-for-3 with two RBI. Sophomore center fielder Elizabeth Johnson was 1-for-2 with an RBI, while junior first baseman Payton Gaber was 1-for-2. Freshman outfielder Shay Weber was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI, while freshman outfielder Kaiya Sundeen and sophomore first baseman Ashley McCance each had a hit and an RBI. Freshman second baseman Ally Helgoe had a hit.
 
Sophomore pitcher Becky Berth picked up her ninth win on the mound, giving up four earned run in seven innings. She struck out one and walked one.
 
The Marauders struck first, scoring three times in the second, keyed by a two-run triple by Mariah Sanchez, to build a 3-0 lead. MSUM responded in the fourth.
 
MSUM opened the fourth with five straight hits – singles by Gaber, Helgoe, Johnson and Sundeen and a double from Weber – to tie the game at 3-3. McCance later added an RBI groundout before McNeilly delivered a huge two-out hit, a single up the middle, to make it 6-3.
 
UMary cut the lead to 6-4 in the sixth and left two runners on but Berth got a groundout to end the inning. In the seventh the tying run came to the plate but senior Taylor Roddie made the play at short and fired to Gaber at first to end the game.
 
In the opener, Johnson was 2-for-3 with a double and RBI while Gaber was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Sundeen was 1-for-3 with a double and two RBI while Roddie and McNeilly had doubles. McCance added a hit as well for the Dragons, who finished with nine hits.
 
Freshman Anna Lang pitched five-plus innings and gave up five runs, four earned. She struck out one and walked two. Berth took the loss, giving up two runs, one earned, in two innings.
 
Gaber's two-run single in the first put MSUM up 2-0. In the second, Sundeen ripped a two-run double to score Johnson, who had doubled, and Helgoe, who had walked, to push the lead to 4-1 after the Marauders scored in the top of the second..
 
Johnson ripped an RBI single in the third to score McNeilly, who had reached on a fielder's choice, as the lead grew to 5-1.
 
UMary scored three times in the fourth to cut the lead to 5-4, but Dummer hit an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-4.
 
The Marauders tied the game with two runs in the sixth, taking advantage of an error, and added the winning run in the seventh on a sac fly. MSUM had the tying run on in the bottom of the seventh but a groundout ended the threat.
 
MSUM continues action at home on Friday when it hosts Wayne State for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.