The Baker softball team split a pair of games on Monday, the first day of the NAIA softball tournament’s double-elimination opening round.

After the Wildcats beat No. 5 Northwestern Ohio in their opening game, they lost to No. 1 seed Northwestern (Iowa) on Monday evening, 3-2, despite mounting a seventh-inning rally.

Baker, which entered as a No. 4 seed in the five-team regional in Sioux Center, Iowa, will play next on Tuesday at 5 p.m. against the loser of a game between Northwestern Ohio and Friends that will have taken place earlier in the day. The Wildcats are just two years removed from their trip to the NAIA World Series in 2023.

With one out in the seventh against Northwestern (Iowa) and Baker trailing 3-1, Braxton Stainbrook singled and Rachel Pederson reached on an error, putting runners at the corners for the Wildcats. Second baseman Savannah Bray was able to drive in one run on a fielder’s choice, but the Red Raiders recorded the second out, and then pitcher Abby Flanagan got Ava Greiner to ground out, sealing the result for Northwestern.

Flanagan and Kate Kralik combined to pitch seven innings of two-run ball for the Red Raiders, allowing eight hits, including two apiece by Stainbrook and Riley Phillips.

Meanwhile, Northwestern scored all three of its runs in the fourth inning against Tess Eubank, aided by a pair of errors. Eubank went five innings with just one earned run allowed, but gave up six hits and three walks and did not record a strikeout.

Phillips was responsible for the single to left field that gave Baker its 1-0 lead for the first three-plus innings.

Earlier on Monday, the Wildcats had advanced past their first opponent, the No. 5 seed Northwestern Ohio, by a score of 2-0.

Eudora native Kira Baker pitched a complete-game shutout in that victory, working her way around four hits and two walks while striking out 12 batters.

The Wildcats capitalized on a first-inning error, as Bray scored by advancing to home plate on the Racers’ throw to first base on a dropped third strike.

Ashlee Jackman then recorded the game’s only RBI when she drove in Phillips with a double in the bottom of the fourth inning.

UNOH’s biggest threat came in the sixth inning, when right fielder Hailey Edgell (2-for-2 on the day) drew a two-out walk to load the bases. However, Baker got Sydney Shaffer to strike out swinging and stranded the runners.