ABERDEEN, S.D. – The No. 19 Winona State softball team scored runs in only one inning on the day, but it was enough to split with Northern State Saturday in Aberdeen.
 
Fortunately for the Warriors, their one inning was a big inning, as WSU – which was down 2-0 – pushed across nine runs on seven hits in the sixth inning to pull ahead for an eventual 9-3 victory. The Warriors were on the wrong end of a pitchers' duel in game two, falling 1-0 in eight innings.
 
In the nine-run sixth inning, 15 Warriors batted and 11 reached safely in the inning. It all started when leadoff hitter Lexi Perez slapped an infield single to the first baseman. After Reed Karsten reached on a fielder's choice and an errant throw put Perez on second, Ashley Walker produced a bunt single to load the bases.
 
That set up Morgan Lintz, who came through with a 2 RBI single up the middle to bring the Warriors even. The second Wolves error of the inning allowed Walker to score and give WSU the lead, and the next at-bat saw Jessica Kullmann hit a 2 RBI double to center field.
 
After an RBI groundout from Jamee Schleis and another 2 RBI hit – this one a double to left center off the bat of Karsten in her second at-bat of the inning – the Warriors found themselves up 8-2 and Walker made it a 9-2 score with an RBI groundout. Northern State got one back in the bottom of the inning, but WSU cruised to the six-run, 9-3 win.
 
Walker (17-3) earned the win in the circle, scattering nine hits and striking out six while giving up the three earned runs
 
Scoring proved to be a tough task for both teams in the second affair, as it took extra innings to push across the game's first and only run.
 
Unfortunately for the Warriors, the only run was scored on a wild pitch from Walker that scored NSU's Kaile Maiden from third for the walk-off winner.
 
The wild pitch was just Walker's fifth pitch of the game, who came in relief of Hanna Lythberg after tossing seven innings without giving up a run when leaving the game. But it was Lythberg's runner on base, and the junior was saddled with the tough loss, dropping her to 18-6 on the season.
 
WSU manufactured just five runs in the game two loss with no runner reaching third base until the top of the seventh, when the Warriors were able to load the bases after singles from Kullmann and pinch-hitter Evie Schaller and a Karly Olson pinch-hit hit-by-pitch. But Perez grounded out to keep the game scoreless.
 
Winona State (37-10, 19-3 NSIC) returns to action Sunday for a doubleheader against MSU Moorhead scheduled for a noon first pitch in Moorhead, Minn.