Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 MARQUETTE, Mich. - Ripon's softball team couldn't have asked for a much better start to the 2018 season, defeating Northland College 8-0 on Sunday, as Lexi Reetz tossed a one-hit shutout in the Red Hawks' first game at Finlandia's Dome Tournament. Ripon followed that up with a 14-6 loss to Finlandia. Both games went six innings.

In the day's first game, Reetz (1-0) gave up a single to right field, but wouldn't allow another hit for the entire game, striking out 11 batters. The Junior became just the fourth player in program history to record 250 career strikeouts, and currently ranks fourth with 254, which is just 17 shy of the third-highest total.

Offensively, Ripon saw nine different batters record at least one hit, while the Red Hawks scored at least one run in each of the last five innings. Reetz began the rally in the second inning, leading off with a single, and later scoring the game's first run on an RBI single by Teara Morgenroth. Micaela Encarnacion would later drive in Morgenroth with a ground-rule double to double that lead.

The Red Hawks scored two more runs in the third on RBI by Reetz and Margaret Herrin, before Tene Robinson drove in another run in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead. Ripon added a pair of runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Camryn Hamilton and Morgenroth. They would cap the scoring in the sixth on a ground-rule double off the bat of Julia Sanchez, which scored Haley Reirson to put the mercy rule into effect.

Ripon finished the game with 13 hits, with four players recording multi-hit games. Encarnacion, Sanchez, Morgenroth, and Isabella Osborn led the Red Hawks' offensive attack with two hits apiece.

"It was nice to get that first win in our season-opener," Ripon Head Coach Steve Wammer said. "Lexi threw a great game, and offensively, we did what we needed. We want to be relentless at the plate, and that was the case in that first game."

The day's second game saw Ripon (1-1) fall behind early as Finlandia broke a scoreless tie with seven runs in the bottom of the second. They added another run in the third before Ripon could break through with a four-run fifth inning. The Red Hawks' first run came when Hamilton scored on a passed ball. Their three other runs in the inning would all come on Finlandia errors.

Finlandia (3-0) got two of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth, but Ripon answered with two runs in the sixth on an RBI triple by Hamilton and an RBI double by Emma Hall. Finlandia then ended the game with a four-run inning in the bottom of the sixth.

Finlandia finished the game with 18 hits, while Ripon recorded six, including another two base knocks from Sanchez. Hamilton scored two of Ripon's six runs in the contest.

"We dug ourselves an early hole against a good team, but I was really proud of how we continued to compete for the entire game," said Wammer.

Ripon will be in action again next weekend when they'll take part in the ACM Softball Dome Tournament in Rochester, Minn. Saturday's games against Macalester and UW-River Falls will begin at 10 a.m. and Noon, respectively.