The Aquinas softball team took care of business by extending its winning streak to seven in a row with three more wins on Tuesday (Mar. 8) in Tucson, Arizona. After gutting out a tough 3-2 victory over Northwestern (Iowa) to begin the day, the Saints went on to defeated Kansas Wesleyan 7-1 and (RV) Jamestown 9-4. AQ improves its' record to 10-3 on the young season.
GAME 1: Aquinas 3, Northwestern (Iowa) 2
Both of the runs the Raiders scored on the day were unearned due to errors on the AQ defense. The first one came in the top of the first inning that allowed NWC to draw first blood.
In the next half inning,
Izzy Dawson skied a sacrifice fly out to center field to bring in
Courtney Hardin to tie the game up at one. The Saints scored their other two runs of the ball game in the second inning as
Carson Hendrickson was brought around on an RBI triple by
Ashley Snyder after walking with one out. Following a walk by
Darrien Roberts, AQ executed a double steal that allowed Roberts to steal seocnd and Snyder to steal home to put Aquinas up 3-1.
The final run of the game was scored in the fourth inning by the Raiders, again unearned due to an error.
Leah Ash was strong in the circle as she improved to 4-1 on the season. Ash pitched a complete game and only allowed the two unearned runs on eight hits and a walk, while striking out seven hitters.
Dawson, Hardin, and Snyder collected the only three hits in the game for AQ.
GAME 2: Aquinas 7, Kansas Wesleyan 1
The offense started to click in the second game as the Saints scored six runs in the first three innings to hold a 6-0 advantage. Another Dawson sacrifice fly and an RBI groundout by
Jordan Humitz brought around
Haley Myers and Roberts to score in the first inning.
Leah Vaughan scored on an errand throw by the catcher as
Halee Holman was stealing second to lengthen the lead to 3-0 in the second inning. In the third, Vaughan doubled to plate
Kaelyn Stafford and Humitz before Holman singled to bring around Vaughan for the next three runs.
The Coyotes got on the board for their only run of the game in the fourth inning on an RBI double. The Saints' final run came in the sixth inning as Humitz singled in Roberts for the second time of the game.
Kayla Fessenden moved to 3-1 on the season after pitching five innings and allowing one run on two hits and a walk, while striking out six.
Christyona Arballo threw two scoreless innings to close the game out and only gave up one hit.
Vaughan and Holman both had three-hit games at the plate with Vaughan and Humitz driving in two runs a piece.
GAME 3: Aquinas 9, (RV) Jamestown 4
The Saints defeated the Jimmies for the second time in as many games down in Arizona by scoring all nine runs in innings three through five. After JU scored an unearned run in the first inning, AQ responded with two in the third as Hardin scored on a wild pitch and Stafford singled in Dawson.
Jamestown tied the game back up at two with an RBI single in the fourth. However, four straight singles by Roberts,
Emma Houseman, Stafford, and Hendrickson gave the Saints a four run lead. AQ scored its other three runs in the fifth as an error on Hardin's bunt attempt brought in Houseman and Holman to score. Then, Dawson collected her third sacrifice fly of the day to make the score 9-2 with Hardin crossing the plate.
Vaughan received a no decision after pitching the first three and a third innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks, while striking out one.
Nina Bennett upped her record to 2-0 after throwing one and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.
Grace Maguire pitched the final two innings and gave up two runs on four hits and a walk.
Stafford was 3-4 at the plate with two RBI, while Dawson and Hendrickson both also had multi-hit performances.
Aquinas will play another three games tomorrow (Mar. 9) against William Penn (Iowa) at 12:00 PM, (RV) Dickinson State (ND) at 2:15 PM, and Concordia (Neb.) at 6:45 PM.
