RIPON, Wis. – The Ripon softball team wrapped up the 2023 season on Sunday afternoon, hosting Mount Mary for the final doubleheader of the year. The Red Hawks dropped the opener 6-2 before finishing the campaign with a 5-1 win, picking up the program's highest win total since 2018 along the way.
 
Mount Mary started the scoring in the second inning before erupting for four runs in the third to take a 5-0 lead. Ripon got on the board in the home third and added a run in the sixth, but the Red Hawks would get no closer in the opener.
 
Mikaela Lawrence and Kayla Cruz each came away with two base hits in Sunday's Game 1, with Cruz and Anna Bauer picking up an RBI apiece. Kalen Berger highlighted the effort in the circle, overcoming two walks and a lone hit to record four scoreless innings of relief work.
 
After working around a one-out single in the opening frame of Game 2, Ripon immediately found a rhythm with the bats. Abby Gilbertson singled to right to plate Lawrence from second, Bauer added a sac fly and Hadley Berendsen picked up the third RBI of the Red Hawk first.
 
Lawrence sparked a two-out rally with a triple to center in the bottom of the second, coming in to score on a Mount Mary error. A second Blue Angel error allowed Brennah Bronk to score two batters later, and the Ripon lead swelled to 5-0.
 
Mount Mary scratched across their lone run of the game in the fourth but was unable to provide any further offense. Berger went the distance to get the win, recording four strikeouts in her final outing of the season.
 
Lawrence finishes her junior season with 51 hits, good enough for third on the program record book, while Gilbertson's 45 tie her for fifth. Berger's 24 appearances rank ninth all-time, and Bauer's 87 assists land her in eighth.