St. Cloud, Minn.--- The Minnesota State softball split a pair of games against St. Cloud State on Sunday afternoon, to push the Mavericks overall record to 17-13 on the year. In game one, MSU fell to SCSU in eight innings, 2-1, before the Mavericks defeated the Huskies, 6-3 in game two of the day.

In the first game of the day, it was a pitchers duel between the Huskies and Mavericks, as SCSU bested MSU by the score of 2-1 in eight innings. Sophomore pitcher Coley Ries (9-10) took the loss for the Mavericks, while SCSU's Kelly Franks, picked up the win. Ries threw seven innings in the game and struck out eight Huskies batters, while Franks pitched seven innings of work and posted nine strikeouts. 

The Huskies would strike first in the third inning as Alyssa Coletto notched a RBI single that brought in Abby Bunnell, to put SCSU up, 1-0 after three.

The Mavericks would tie the game up in the top of the fifth, after a RBI single from junior Emily Bransky, that pushed across sophomore Molly Sager. 

In the next two innings, both the Mavericks and Huskies were unable to put anymore runs on the board which led to extra innings. In the top of the eighth, MSU was unable to push a run across the board as the Mavericks had the go-ahead run sitting at second. Then in the bottom of the eighth, SCSU would quickly end the game as Megan Hedstrom blasted a walk-off home-run, to give the Huskies the 2-1 win.

In game two of the day, the Mavericks would defeat the Huskies by the score of 6-3, as MSU accounted for 11 hits, including three extra base hits in the win.

Pitching for the Mavericks was freshman Libby Bemis (8-2), as she picked up the win for MSU and was able strikeout two SCSU batters. Hedstrom (6-2) picked up the loss for the Huskies, as she pitched one inning of work and gave up four earned runs, four hits and two walks.

SCSU would score all three of its runs in the bottom of the second after accumulating three hits in the inning. The Mavericks would score six unanswered runs from that point on.

In the top of the fourth, sophomore Dana Mogren belted a two-run home run that also scored freshman Kara Lattery. That was Mogren's first career home run as a Maverick and going into the bottom of the fourth, MSU was still down 3-2 to SCSU.

MSU would score its final four runs in the top of the sixth, as junior Tatum Klein started the run filled inning with a RBI single that pushed across sophomore Ashley Thell. Next batter up for the Mavericks was Bransky and she added a two-run double that scored Mogren and freshman Kelly Grove. Freshman Jess Meidl would finish the inning with a RBI single, to push across Klein, that led to the MSU 6-3 win over SCSU.

For the day, Bransky led the Mavericks as she batted 4-8 from the plate and recorded three RBI in the doubleheader, while Mogren went 3-7 from the plate and posted one home run, along with two RBI, two runs and one walk. Meidl and Klein each collected two hits and one RBI in the games, while Meidl also added one walk and one stolen base.

The Mavericks will quickly return to action, as they will take on the University of Sioux Falls on Tuesday, in doubleheader action in Sioux Falls, S.D. Games are scheduled for 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.