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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Behind seven home runs the University of Mary (32-20) opened the Northern Sun Softball Tournament with wins over Concordia University, St. Paul (19-33) and No. 18 Winona State University (40-7) on Thursday. The seventh seed, U-Mary defeated 10th seed Concordia-St. Paul 7-3 in the first round and second seed Winona State 10-8 in the second round.
 
Junior outfielder Erin Keen was the Marauders top offense performer blasting her first three home runs of the season that accounted for six U-Mary runs. Scoring 17 runs, the Marauders finished the day with 26 hits.
 
Starting the first game and relieving in the second game, Cherlyn Trujillo picked up a pair of wins and allowed just three earned runs in 12 innings, while striking out eight.
 
vs. Concordia-St. Paul
 
Behind a trio of home runs and a strong pitching performance, U-Mary cruised past Concordia-St. Paul 7-3 for its first conference tournament win since May 6, 2011 when it defeated No. 19 Winona State.
 
Taylor Mendez and Julissa Perales each hit two-run home runs and Erin Keen added a solo shot. Picking up her 16th win of the season, Trujillo tossed a complete game and struck out eight.
 
With the Marauders trailing 1-0, Taylor Mendez homered to left center with Julissa Perales, who walked, on base to give U-Mary 2-1 lead. The Marauders rallied in the third with two outs, as a single by Amber Gamboa was followed by a two-run bomb from Julissa Perales. Demaree Rodriguez, who was 3-for-3 in the game, delivered an RBI single after a double by Mendez.
 
Keen extended the Marauders lead to 5-1 with a leadoff home run in the fourth inning and Rodriguez singled in the fifth to score Gamboa, who also singled.
 
Back-to-back home runs by the Golden Bears, closed the gap to four in the sixth, but the Marauders held on for a 7-3 win.
 
vs. Winona State
 
Three home runs in the sixth inning for U-Mary fueled a furious comeback as the Marauders won just their second game of the season when trailing after five innings with their 10-8 win over Winona State, who is ranked No. 1 in the Central Region.
 
U-Mary finished the game with four home runs, two of which were hit by Keen. Keen had a two-run shot in the fourth and a three-run blast in the Marauders seven-run sixth innings.
 
Trujillo relieved Keen, pitched five innings, and did not allow an earned run as she scattered six hits.
 
After a lackluster first inning that was plagued by two errors that led to five runs for the Warriors, the Marauders found themselves down 6-0 after two innings. U-Mary gave up six hits and committed two errors in the first two innings.
 
In the third inning the Marauders bats finally got going as they picked up four hits, but U-Mary only managed one run. A two-run shot by Keen in the fourth inning closed the gap to three, but WSU took advantage of two hits and two errors to add two more runs to extend its lead to 8-3.
 
Capitalizing on two errors by the Warriors, the Marauders had five hits, three of which were home runs as they scored seven runs to take a 10-8 lead. With two of the first three batters reaching on errors, Keen blasted her third home run of the season to pull the score to 8-6. After back-to-back singles, Kristin Ormsby launched her sixth home run of the season to give U-Mary its first lead of the game. With two outs Perales connected on her 11th homer of the season to extend the Marauders lead to two.
 
After going down in order in the bottom of the sixth, the Warriors threatened to score in the seventh with a pair of one-out hits. Two fly balls later and Trujillo secured her 17th win of the season to advance the Marauders with a 10-8 win.
 
Holding an 0-12 record when trailing after one inning heading into the day, the Marauders improved that mark to 2-12 with a pair of comeback wins.
 
ON DECK
 
With the wins today, U-Mary will now take on the third seed No. 25 Augustana College on Friday at noon. If the Marauders win they will play at 4 p.m. and if they lose they will play at 2 p.m., with opponents to be determined. Live statistics for both games will be available at goumary.com/coverage.
 
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