The game ended in five innings due to the 10-run lead rule.

Despite the dropping temperatures, the Cougars’ offense was hot from the get-go on Friday, one day after racking up 23 total hits in a doubleheader sweep of the Knights on Thursday. That doubleheader saw the Cougars win the opener 13-0 in five innings and 11-5 in Game 2.

Friday was a chance for the Knights to reset, but they unfortunately were limited on the bases and held to three hits. They did draw three walks, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Cougars, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, added three more runs in the second and then three more in the third for a 9-0 start.

“We’re figuring out ways to get on this season, especially early in games where you’ve got to figure out how to capitalize on that,” MLC head coach Becca Kvam said. “We keep having these lulls in the middle of the game, so we’re trying to figure out how to push through those.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College shortstop Kiara Humann throws to first during a UMAC softball game against Minnesota Morris on Friday at MLC.

UMM had a trio of players each go 3 for 4 at the plate. UMM leadoff hitter Taylor Johnson was 3 for 4 with a triple and two runs scored, while Olivia Losee was 3 for 4 with three RBIs and three runs scored and Kendra Schmitz was 3 for 4 with a double.

“Morris is a very well-coached team,” Kvam said. “Heather Pennie-Roy, their head coach, has been there a long time and I respect her a lot, she does a great job coaching them. We know Morris is going to hit the ball. We have to hit the ball then, too. I wish we could have had a few less errors and kept a couple of those runs off the board, but it’s a learning experience and we’ve got more UMAC games left.”

Rachel McCaughna was 1 for 2 for the Knights, while Kiara Humann and Chloe Koschnitzke each went 1 for 3 for the Knights’ other two hits in the game, with Humann’s being a double.

Chloe Berg took the loss in the circle in 4 1/3 innings pitched, allowing 15 hits and three walks for nine earned runs. She took a liner off the shin in the fifth inning and was forced to exit the game, bringing Rhiannon Schaefer in to pitch the rest of the way. Schaefer walked a batter but forced a groundout and got a strikeout to end the top of the fifth.

Berg wrapped her lower leg in ice after leaving the field.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College’s Chloe Koschnitzke celebrates towards the Knights’ dugout after reaching second in an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference softball game against the University of Minnesota Morris on Friday at MLC.

While Berg isn’t likely to miss the Knights’ upcoming home doubleheader against Bethan Lutheran College on Tuesday, she was fortunate to have the option to leave Friday’s game.

The Knights have had five different players pitch so far this season, with Kieghtan Rank leading the way with 96 2/3 innings of work.

“Focusing on our unity portion as a team, that’s been one of our standards that we’ve really focused on this year,” Kvam said. “It’s been good to have that, to be able to know that we’ve got each other’s backs and we can continue to work on things. As a coaching staff, it’s nice to have options, it’s nice to be able to approach teams with a game plan in mind and an idea of where we’re going to go going forward.”

The Cougars took a 3-0 lead in the first on an RBI single by Mary Landherr and a two-run single by Alyssa Thornton. A Losee RBI single, a wild pitch that scored Losee and a Thornton groundout that scored Landherr made it 6-0 in the second.

Losee’s two-run single to left made it 8-0 in the third before a double steal allowed Landherr to take second and Losee to take home.

The Knights broke into the scoring column in the bottom of the third when Kaylee Pickering flied out to center to score Humann.

Morris got that run back and two more in the fourth on a two-run single by Skylar Morris and a groundout by Ro Diver to score Morris.

An error in the bottom of the fifth allowed Emily Laupichler to take first and Humann to score for the final run of the game.

The Knights had just two errors on the scoreboard to UMM’s three, but there were a handful of mental mistakes in the game also and a few fieldable balls that dropped in play untouched for easy Morris hits.

“That is something we continuously work on in practice, we work on that a lot,” Kvam said. “I think they’re probably sick of me saying do the first thing, and then the next thing. That’s the main thing, especially with the young ones. I think they just get a little excited, they get a little ahead of themselves and then they start thinking about the next thing they’ve got to do.

“So we’ve just gotta really focus in on doing the first thing, and then the next thing, making the catch, then making the throw, then looking for runners. We’re just figuring out how to do one thing at a time. We’re young, we have a lot of young players, a lot of people playing in positions that they haven’t had a lot of experience in and they’re taking it like champs, they’re fighting hard and working hard for me every day at practice.”

MLC hosts BLC at 3 p.m. Tuesday for the first game of a UMAC doubleheader, with Game 2 taking place at approximately 5 p.m.