By Logan Jones
Assist. Sports Editor
The Northwestern softball team took on the University of Arkansas-Monticello Cotton Blossoms last weekend, losing all four games of the series.
The series opened with a double-header on Friday. In game one, the Lady Rangers found themselves in an early hole after a leadoff homerun by the Cotton Blossoms.
In the second and third innings, despite threatening with runners in scoring position, the Lady Rangers could not bring any of them in.
UAM again found the scoreboard in the fourth and fifth innings, scoring two and then four respectively.
In the bottom of the sixth, freshman Morgan LaNeve recorded her first collegiate home run, giving Northwestern their first runs of the day. In the top of the seventh, the Cotton Blossoms tacked on one more run, giving them an 8-1 lead.
The Lady Rangers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the inning however, it was not enough as the game ended with a final score of 8-4.
In game two, the Ranger offense went silent as they only managed to record two hits against the UAM pitching.
The Cotton Blossoms got on the board first due to some costly Northwestern errors.
Monticello would add to their lead with three in the third and one in the sixth which seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for the Lady Rangers.
After the seventh, the final score was 5-0.
On Saturday, the series continued with two more games.
In game one, Monticello picked up where they left off from Friday, scoring early and often.
The Cotton Blossoms recorded two runs in the top of the first and one in the third.
The Lady Rangers threatened in the bottom of the first by putting two runners in scoring position but were unable to bring them across the plate.
As the game went on, the Cotton Blossoms would continue to add to their lead, scoring twice in the fourth and three more times in the fifth.
After going down quietly in the sixth, the run rule came in to effect, ending the game an inning early with a score of 8-0.
In the final game of the series, the Lady Rangers desperately tried to keep from being swept at home.
In the bottom of the first, the red and black tallied three runs, marking the first time Northwestern led in the series.
They extended their lead in the third by tacking on another run.
The Monticello bats seemed to wake up as they tied the game at four a piece in the fourth before taking the lead with three runs in the fifth and extending their lead with four more in the sixth.
The Lady Rangers tried to mount a comeback in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs on a bases loaded single by Caden Cunningham.
However, the damage had already been done, and the red and black ultimately lost, 11-6.
The Lady Rangers move to 2-14 overall and 2-10 in conference play.
They will return to the diamond when they travel to Arkadelphia, Arkansas to take on the Henderson State Reddies on March 15 and 16.