The Aquinas softball team went 2-2 in Davenport, Iowa this weekend at the SAU Winter Dome Tournament, finishing just one game on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 15) before completing a postponed game on Sunday (Feb. 16) in addition to a pair of regularly scheduled games. AQ played three games decided by one or two runs and leaves the weekend with an overall record of 6-5.
On Saturday afternoon, Aquinas topped the host school Saint Ambrose by a 3-2 score in extra innings on a walk-off base hit. In an attempt to get a second game completed, AQ took on Saint Xavier immediately after the win, but the teams were unable to finish the entire game and were postponed until early Sunday morning. The Cougars prevailed with a shortened 4-3 victory.
The Saints bounced back to top Missouri Valley by a 6-4 score in their second game on Sunday, but the weekend finished with a 5-0 loss to Saint Xavier.
Aquinas 3, Saint Ambrose 2 (8 innings)
Jordan Humitz put AQ on top 1-0 with an RBI double in the second inning and
Kallie Sears gave the Saints a 2-1 lead with a run-scoring single in the third. The game went to extra innings tied at 2-2, when Humitz delivered a walk-off single to score
Hannah Hasley with the winning run.
AQ outhit Saint Ambrose, 9-8, with Humitz going 3-for-3 with two ribbies. Sears was 2-for-3 with the other RBI.
Jordan Buckingham and
Brooke Wila each walked twice and scored a run.
The trio of
Marisa Loya (4.2 innings, zero earned runs, six strikeouts),
Kayla Fessenden (3.0 innings, one run), and
Leah Vaughan (struck out SAU's final batter in the eighth with the bases loaded, earned the victory) held the Bees to just two runs in the game.
Saint Xavier 4, Aquinas 3 (5 innings)
AQ scored three quick runs in the top of the first with another Sears RBI single and a two-run homer from
Izzy Dawson to score
Dana Wila for the 3-0 lead. SXU scored twice in the second inning and the game was postponed a few innings later. The teams agreed to resume play in a shortened five-inning game on Sunday morning and the Cougars scored twice in the bottom of the fifth for the walk-off victory.
SXU held a 9-5 edge in hits. Five different AQ players recorded a hit, including Dawson's roundtripper and a double from
Haley Aldred.
Leah Ash went three innings and allowed two runs, while
Mia Loya gave up two runs (one earned) in 1.1 innings of relief. Vaughan was dealt the loss, as Saint Xavier scored the winning run with her in the circle.
Aquinas 6, Missouri Valley 4
The Saints scored twice in the second inning, as base hits from
Aubrie Benward and Vaughan brought in a pair of runs. Missouri Valley responded with a four-run home half of the inning, taking a 4-2 lead all the way to the seventh. In AQ's final at-bat,
Leigha Morse and Buckingham tallied RBI singles to tie the game at 4-4, scoring
Taylor Borkowski and Hasley.
Sydney Dawson then entered the game as a pinch hitter with two outs and delivered the eventual game-winning two-run single.
Leah Ash shut down the Vikings not only in the bottom of the seventh, but in all six innings she pitched. Coming in for AQ in relief in the second inning, Ash retired 18 of the 19 batters she faced and allowed just one hit by pitch. She gave up zero hits and struck out six batters to earn the win.
Vaughan finished 3-for-4 at the plate and
Izzy Dawson was 2-for-4. All 13 Aquinas hits were singles and six different Saints scored in the victory.
Saint Xavier 5, Aquinas 0
The Cougars tallied two runs in both the third and fourth innings, adding an insurance run in the seventh. SXU outhit Aquinas by a 12-2 margin.
Izzy Dawson had both Aquinas hits, going 2-for-2 with a single, double, and walk. Fessenden,
Mia Loya, and
Nina Bennett split the seven innings in the circle for AQ.
Aquinas is off until the team's annual Spring Break trip. The Saints head to Arizona for the Tucson Invitational Games, where the team will play 17 games from Mar. 7-15.
