The Northern State Softball team kicked off Nothern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action at home last week with a win over Minnesota State on Friday.

The Wolves defeated the Mavericks in the first game of their doubleheader 6-4. Minnesota State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but the Wolves bounced back with four runs in the fourth inning with the help of a three-run double from Aune Boben. Her next appearance at the plate, she hit a two-run home run to increase the NSU lead to four runs going into the last inning. The Mavericks put up two in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough as the Wolves came away with the win.

In the second game, the Wolves and Mavericks were tied at 4-4 in the fourth, before Minnesota State scored 11 runs in the final two innings of play, on the way to a 15-4 win. Boben tallied another home run, and the other three runs came from a three-run home run from Avarie Eagle.

The Wolves came back on Saturday to square off against 8th-ranked Augustana. The Vikings came away with a 1-0 win, on a two-out run in the third inning. Augie defeated the Wolves 12-0 in five inning in the second contest.

The Wolves closed their homestand with a doubleheader against Minnesota State Moorhead on Wednesday afternoon. The Wolves dropped both games 5-4 and 8-6 committing seven errors, leading to six unearned runs.

In game one, Northern found the scoreboard first, but Moorhead answered with a four-run fifth inning. The Dragons held on to the lead for the remainder of the game to close out the game-one victory.

In game two, the Wolves held a 5-1 lead going into the final three outs of the game. Moorhead rallied, putting up four runs in the seventh to the game up at 5-5. With no action in the bottom of the seventh from the Wolves, the game went into extra innings and Moorhead used its momentum to put up three runs in the top of the eighth. Northern scored once in the bottom half of the frame, but it wasn’t enough.

Wolves baseball also competed in NSIC action this past weekend in Minnetonka, Minn., taking on Concordia-St. Paul. The Wolves got swept in the series by scores of 7-2, 12-1, 5-4, and 4-1. The two runs in the opener came in the first inning on a single from Brennan Phillips scoring Dylan Soulek and Nicholas Ochoa.

In game two, the Wolves got on the scoreboard in the third when Dillon Castellanos advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then took home on an error by the catcher.

In game three, the Wolves jumped out to an early 3-0 lead coming on a single from Phillips scoring Michael Benevides, and another single from Castellanos scoring Benevides and Ochoa.

After the Golden Bears answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second, the Wolves extended their lead to 4-2 on a single from Soulek scoring Nick Friedges. CSP scored three unanswered runs to give them the win.

In the last game of the series, the Golden Bears scored first with two runs in the fifth, and another pair in the sixth. Soulek scored in the ninth, but that was all the Wolves could put on the scoreboard.

On the other side of the country, the Wolves track and field team traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for the Alan Connie Shamrock Invite, which took place from Thursday through Saturday. Both the men’s and women’s squads took sixth overall out of 31 teams in the men’s field and 29 in the women’s division.

Sam Tremelling won the pole vault, Renea Taylor took third in the 100m and second in the 400m hurdles, Andi Mehrer took second in the discus, and Morgan Sheldon took second in the heptathlon.

The Wolves baseball team is back in action today against the University of Sioux Falls in a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. at Fossum Field. They will continue their series on Friday with games at noon and 2 p.m. against the Cougars.

NSU softball is on the road as the Wolves take on Concordia-St. Paul in a doubleheader at noon and 2 p.m. on Friday, and then travel to Winona to take on the Warriors on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m.

The Wolves will hit the road one more time to take on Minot State on Tuesday at noon and 2 p.m.