The Knights’ clutch hitting gave them a 6-4 win in Game 1 of an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader, and it saw them finish just a run shy in the second game as the Rams held on to split the doubleheader with a 4-3 win in Game 2.

In the first game, it was Chloe Koschnitzke who got to be the hero as her two-run triple in the sixth tied the game at 4-all before she scored the winning run on an error moments later. Emma Frey walked to score Hannah Ott for an insurance run and senior Jess Horn held off the Rams in the seventh for the Knights’ first win of the season.

Horn, who has pitched in all 26 games so far this year for the Knights (1-25, 1-13) and is also the program’s all-time leader in innings pitched, finished the complete-game win allowing 12 hits and no walks for two earned runs while striking out six.

Horn said getting that first win of the season was big for more than just herself, but for her teammates.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College Chloe Berg connects for a hit during a UMAC softball doubleheader against North Central on Wednesday at MLC.

“I think it kind of just shows that we can have some wins coming up,” Horn said. “We have a lot more games coming up, and yeah, we’re out of the tournament, but we can still end the season on a high note. I think, more than just for myself, but for the whole team, we can see that we can do it and that we’re able to. We take them on again in a week, which is good for us.

“I think it’s just a good stepping stone because for a while, we got so close and then we never were actually able to get over that hump and actually get a win. But we did that today, even though we were down for a bit in that first game. We proved it to ourselves.”

Erica Gilles took the loss in 5 1/3 innings for the Rams in the opener, allowing 11 hits and five walks for four earned runs while striking out four.

North Central led 2-0 in the first inning of Game 1, but an Anna Busch RBI single got the Knights on the board in the bottom of the first before a Chloe Berg RBI single into center field tied the game in the third. North Central got two runs back in the fifth before the Knights scored four runs in the sixth to pull back in front.

Horn also had a big day at the plate in Game 1, going 4 for 4 with two runs scored to lead her Knights, while Berg and Busch each went 2 for 3 with an RBI and Kierah Schultz was 2 for 4.

Isabela Gallardo, Aurora Prettyman, Gabbie Ruzek and Karmen Dotson each went 2 for 4 for the Rams in Game 1.

In Game 2, Horn took the complete-game loss, allowing three earned runs on nine hits and a walk. Adison Schroer got the win for the Rams in all seven innings in Game 2, allowing 10 hits and a walk for three earned runs while striking out seven.

Berg led the Knights at the plate in Game 2, going 4 for 4, while Katelyn Rassat was 2 for 4 with an RBI and Horn was 1 for 4 with an RBI.

The Rams got two hits apiece from Gilles and Kaitlyn Havens in Game 2.

The Knights led the second game 2-0 after an RBI groundout by Horn and a wild pitch that scored Rachel McCaughna in the second inning, but the Rams got a run back in the fourth on an RBI single from Dotson and took the lead in the sixth after an RBI single from Erma Ramirez and an RBI groundout from Kelsey Henninger. After the Rams added an insurance run in the seventh, Schroer got two quick outs to have the Knights an out away from a loss, but Berg kept things alive with a two-out single to right. Not to be outdone, Busch put a single into center field to continue some solid two-out hitting for the Knights, which was then followed by an RBI single to left by Rassat to score Berg. Frey got a hold of a pitch and sent it deep to right-center, but the ball was hauled in on the run to end the Knights’ hopes for a sweep.

Even with the split, the Knights performed well under pressure and got big hits when needed.

“A lot of it is just the culture that we created,” MLC head coach Becca Kvam said of her team’s hitting and determination. “A lot of that kind of goes to our seniors this year and our ones that we’ve graduated in the last couple of years as well, really building a culture of building each other up, working through that confidence. And with a young team, trying to find confidence is definitely a hard thing.

“Last weekend, our first game on Sunday against Morris, we almost had them in that one and I think that really proved to [our players] that, ‘Oh, maybe we can win the game,’ which was really awesome. So they just really are realizing that no one person is going to do it, it’s got to be a full team effort and we’ve been really focusing on that the last couple of weeks. Being able to see them actually starting to execute that is really great.”

Horn, who is one of four seniors on the team with Amelia Thiel, Ott and Busch, said the Knights’ hitting is coming around and she’s been happy to get more at-bats.

“I think we have a pretty young team when it comes to just how much experience we have in total, years of playing ball,” Horn said. “I think even with our preseason playing in Myrtle Beach and then all the conference teams we’ve played, we played the tough teams at the beginning, and I think getting to see that type of pitching, the movement, the placement of that and that really prepares us for this because I’ve seen a lot of growth. The amount of times we got through the lineup today, I haven’t had more than a couple at-bats a game it seems and today … it was a lot more than I usually do. We’ve proved it to ourselves that we can hit the ball.”

The Rams, now 3-28 overall and 1-13 in the UMAC, will travel back to MLC for another UMAC game after Easter break on Wednesday. The Knights will return to practice Monday night and look back at what worked against the Rams in hopes of winning the season series.

“I’m very grateful for my assistant coaches,” Kvam said. “They do a lot of analyzing and recognizing those patterns and then we can sit down and address those things. … We keep track of batters year to year, what worked for them the past year, what didn’t work, and my pitching coach, Amanda [Schwanke], does a great job of analyzing that and calling pitches based on not only what we’ve seen out of them now these two games, but a lot of these girls we’ve seen a couple years in a row now, so being able to go back and look at that has been very helpful, especially for Jess, who these girls have seen her a couple times.

“And also, I think just the confidence factor of our girls realizing that they can hit and I know that North Central only has two pitchers, so now we’ve seen both of the pitchers and we’re hungry and ready to get after it. Just gotta execute a few more things.”