The Aquinas softball team gained two big wins in the first day of its Arizona Trip on Saturday afternoon (Mar. 5) at Lincoln Park in Tucson, Arizona. After dropping the first game to Tabor (Kan.) 11-4, the Saints gained a 3-2 walk-off win over Ottawa (Ariz.), and took down #9 Olivet Nazarene 7-2 for their second win against a top-10 team this season. AQ now has a 5-3 record through its first eight games.
GAME 1: Tabor (Kan.) 11, Aquinas 4
The Bluejays scored the first six runs of the game to jump out to an early lead.
Grace Maguire started in the circle and moves to 1-1 on the season after pitching one and a third innings and giving up six runs on seven hits and a walk, while striking out three.
The Saints tried cutting into the deficit by scoring two in the second inning.
Kaelyn Stafford doubled to left center field to score
Emma Houseman, then eventually scored on a groundout by
Carson Hendrickson to make the score 6-2.
The teams traded runs in the third inning with
Jordan Humitz singling in
Haley Myers after TC scored its seventh run of the game.
Nina Bennett relieved Maguire and allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk after Tabor scored another run in the fourth and fifth innings.
Christyona Arballo pitched the final three and two-thirds innings as the Bluejays scored another two runs in the seventh inning.
Leah Vaughan brought in the final run for the Saints in the seventh when she singled and
Taylor Charon scored to make the final score 11-4.
GAME 2: Aquinas 3, Ottawa (Ariz.) 2
It was a pitchers dual in the game against the Spirit as only five runs were scored. OUAZ grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning off an error by AQ. The Saints answered in a big way as
Ashley Snyder launched her first home run of the season that gave Aquinas a 2-1 lead with Stafford also scoring.
Ottawa answered with the game-tying run in the sixth inning. However, in the bottom of the seventh inning
Izzy Dawson singled up the middle to score Vaughan and give AQ the 3-2 walk-off victory.
Leah Ash moved to 2-1 on the season after pitching her third consecutive complete game. Ash surrendered two runs (one earned) on eight hits and two walks, while striking out three.
GAME 3: Aquinas 7, #9 Olivet Nazarene 2
Big hits were the name of the game in the upset of the day. The scoring did not start until the third inning when
Halee Holman scored on a wild pitch from ONU. The Tigers responded in the bottom of the inning off a solo home run and an RBI single to take a 2-1 lead.
That would be the only two runs Olivet Nazarene would score as the Saints would rattle off the next six runs. The first three runs came off the bat of Dawson with her first home run of the season clearing the left field fence and scoring
Emily Cline and Holman.
In the sixth inning,
Emma Houseman took advantage of an error by the Tigers by doubling to left field and plating Holman and Vaughan. The final runs came in the seventh as
Courtney Hardin's RBI single brought around Bennett to score.
Kayla Fessenden pitched the first three innings for the Saints and allowed two runs on eight hits, while striking out two. Vaughan moved to 2-0 after pitching the final four scoreless innings and only allowing a single hit.
Aquinas plays two more games tomorrow (Mar. 6) against Dakota Wesleyan at 12:00 PM and Jamestown at 2:15 PM.
