Gophers split with Illinois in Big Ten softball doubleheader

The No. 19 Gophers softball team split a doubleheader at Illinois on Saturday afternoon, losing the opener 4-3 in eight innings when Katie Wingerter hit a two-run, walk-off homer, then winning the second game 10-3.

In the first game, Minnesota scored twice in the top of the seventh to tie the score and took a 3-2 led in the eighth on Hope Brandner's 11th homer of the season. The loss broke a seven-game winning streak.

Brandner and Josey White each hit two-run homers in the first inning of the second game as Minnesota (27-10, 8-1 Big Ten) took a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Maddie Houlihan, Emma Burns and Katelyn Kemmetmueller hit homers in later innings.

Ako Thomas' two-run double in the seventh inning scored the two go-ahead runs as Michigan edged the Gophers 5-3 in Big Ten baseball in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Third baseman Jack Wassel of the Gophers (13-15, 6-2 Big Ten) had three hits and two RBI and catcher Eli Wilson hit a solo homer, which tied the score at 3-all in the top of the seventh.

After tying for the conference regular-season title, the Gophers men's gymnastics team finished fifth in the Big Ten Championships on Friday night in Iowa City with a score of 404.800. Penn State won the conference tournament.

"Not the finish we'd hoped, but love this group of guys, they're a hardworking bunch," coach Mike Burns said.

• Three Minnesotans were selected to play for the U.S. national under-17 team next season. The list: forward Chaz Lucius of Grant, Minn., a Gophers recruit from the Gentry Academy; defenseman Jacob Martin of White Bear Lake, also from the Gentry Academy; and forward Justin Janicke, a Notre Dame recruit from Maple Grove.