Thief River Falls - The Northland softball team is 4-0 in MCAC Northern Division play after sweeping a pair of  home double headers over the weekend. The Pioneers swept the Hibbing Cardinals 18-0 and 11-8 on Saturday, before overcoming the elements in a pair of wins over Mesabi Range on Sunday by lopsided scores of 16-7 and 26-4. 
    In Saturday's opener, the Pioneers batted around in the first inning, scoring nine runs on four hits en route an 18-0 win. Freshman Lexi Huot allowed just three hits and struck out two batters while issuing a pair of walks in her five innings of work.
    The Pioneers got off to a slow start in game two, with just two baserunners through the first three innings. Hibbing scored a run on two hits in the second inning and added two more runs on two hits in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead.     The Pioneers answered with eight runs on seven hits in the fourth inning to regain the lead 8-3.     The Cardinals got a pair of runs in the fifth on a two-run blast by Kaylin Bowen to make the score 8-5, and again the Pioneers answered with three runs on two hits in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 11-5.     The Cardinals had one last rally in them and they saved it for the top of the seventh. They scored three runs on two hits and were threatening to score more with two runners on and two outs. Momerak brought game one starter Lexi Huot back into the game, and Huot induced a weak grounder back to the pitching circle and threw to first for the one out save.
    On Sunday, Northland hosted the Mesabi Range Norse in game that saw temperatures in the low 30s, howling winds, and a mix of rain and snow off and on throughout the game. The Pioneers scored eight runs in each of the first two innings and were declared the winner by forfeit after three innings when Mesabi Range used an eligible player who was not on the game one lineup card. 
    Game two was all Northland. The Pioneers sent all nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the first to take a 4-0 lead and batted around in the second to go in front 13-0.     The Norse got a couple of runs back on two hits in the top of the third, but fell behind even worse when the Pioneers scored 11 runs on six hits to make it 24-2.     The Norse added a single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings and the Pioneers scored twice in the bottom of the fourth to round out the scoring.  
    

Game 1         1    2    3    4    5                R    H    E    
Hibbing......... 0    0    0    0    0                0      3    0
Northland...... 9    3    5    1    x                18    11   0     
Pitching - (NCTC) Lexi Huot - W, 5 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 1 walks, 2 strikeouts.     
Offensive highlights - (NCTC) Lexi Huot 2/4, triple, 2 runs, RBI; Isis Johnson 3/3, home run, triple, 4 runs, 4 RBIs.

Game 2         1    2    3    4    5    6    7            R    H    E    
Hibbing..........0    1    2    0    2    0    3            8    10   1
Northland.......0    0    0    8 3     0    x             11    0     0     
Pitching - (NCTC) Desi Lawrence, W, 6.2 IP, 10 hits, 8 runs, 8 earned runs, 6 walks, 10 strikeouts; Lexi Huot - S, 0.1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts.     
Offensive highlights - (NCTC) Desi Lawrence 1/2, 3 walks, 2 runs; Justine Pratschler 3/4, 2 doubles, run, 3 RBI.

Game 1         1    2    3    4    5    6    7            R    H    E    
Mesbi.............5    0    2    x    x     x    x            7    3    3
Northland...... 8    8    x    x    x    x    x            16    0    3     
Pitching - (NCTC) Hailee Harris - 1.1 IP, 4 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned runs, 6 walks, 3 strikeouts; Desi Lawrence - W, 1.2 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs, 0 earned runs, 4 walks, 2 strikeouts.     
Offensive highlights - (NCTC) Lexi Huot 2/2, 3 runs; Jaymee Tuttle 2/3, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Isis Johnson 3/3, triple, double, 4 RBI.
Game 2         1    2    3        4    5                R    H    E    
Mesabi...........0    0    2        1    1                4     2     2
Nortland........ 4    9    11       2    x               26   23    2     
Pitching - (NCTC) Lexi Huot, 2 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts; Desi Lawrence - W, 3 IP, 4 hits, 4 runs, 2 earned runs, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts.       
Offensive highlights - (NCTC) Grace Minten 3/3, 2 walks, 5 runs, 2 RBI; Abbie Johanneck 2/3, 3 runs, 2 walks, RBI.