FOND DU LAC, Wis. (SabreAthletics.com) – The Marian University softball team ended the 2013 campaign on a good note with a 10-2 run-rule victory in five innings over Wisconsin Lutheran College in game two to earn a Northern Athletics Conference doubleheader split at Smith Field, this evening, April 29.

Senior second baseman Emilie Jansen finished her career with a game-ending RBI double to left-center field, scoring Brie Hechimovich from first base to complete the 10-2 win in game two. The Warriors took game one by a score of 7-5, breaking a 4-4 tie after seven innings to outlast the Sabres.

Jansen recorded two hits in each contest to lead the Marian offense. Emily Gorges drove in four runs, including three in the second game alone, while recording the win in the circle as the starting pitcher.

Marian finishes its season with an 11-25 overall record, 9-15 in the NAC. Wisconsin Lutheran moves to 19-17 (13-11 NAC) with the split and will take on third-seeded Dominican in the opening round of the NAC tournament on Thursday.

In game one, the Sabres used a Gorges run-scoring single to take an early 1-0 advantage in the first inning.

Two innings later, the Warriors benefitted from two defensive miscues by the Sabres and scored three unearned runs to take a 3-1 lead.

Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, Marian needed a rally and got one. Nikki Ponticelli led off the frame with a walk, while Gabby D'Oronzo singled up the middle to put two on with nobody out. Two batters later, Tana Vanden Heuvel's sacrifice fly to right field made it 4-3 as Ponticelli came into score.

The next batter, Nikki Jakel, grounded out to third, but Brigette Selsel, who pinch ran for D'Oronzo, was able to scamper home for the tying run.

With two outs, Hechimovich grounded one to second, but an error allowed her to reach. Daniele Gerth, who was standing on second, decided to take home while the second baseman tried to recover and made a perfect throw to the plate to cut down Gerth and end the inning, thus, sending the game into extra innings.

WLC scored three runs in the top of the eighth, using a string of four singles to open the frame, en route to taking a lead it would not relinquish.

In game two, Gorges took the circle once again and showed much improvement in taming the Warrior lineup and holding them to just two hits for her ninth win of the season.

The Sabres offense was fueled by 12 hits, led by Jansen and Gorges who tallied two hits apiece. Both got involved in the first inning as Jansen singled with two outs and Gorges doubled her home as the very next batter.

Amber Johnson and Ponticelli added RBI hits as well as the Sabres posted three runs in the first.

They would add three more in the second to take a commanding 6-1 advantage.

Leading 6-2 in the top of the fourth, lightning struck in view of Smith Field and the game was delayed for 34 minutes before play resumed. Gorges retired the side and the Sabres added three more runs in the bottom of the frame.

Gorges helped herself once again with a two-run single up the middle.

Leading 9-2 with two outs in the fifth, Hechimovich reached on an error by the first baseman and Jansen ended the game and her Sabre career with a game-ending double to the left-center field gap, scoring her teammate to cap the 10-2 win.

The Sabres end the year on a good note and will return all but Jansen for the 2014 season, a squad that saw seven freshmen crack the starting lineup on a regular basis.