The #18 Aquinas Saints softball squad took on the Siena Heights Saints today (Apr. 3) to start conference play for the season. AQ would remain hot, taking two more wins and starting off conference play with a 2-0 record. Aquinas now improves to 22-4 on the season.

Game 1: Aquinas 10, Siena Heights 2 (5 innings)

The first game started with a couple of uncharacteristic walks from the Aquinas ace, Kayla Fessenden. Fessenden would walk home a run, allowing Siena Heights to take an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first frame. Leah Vaughan would record the first hit of the contest for AQ in the bottom of the first and advance to second due to an error from the center fielder. The next batter, Izzy Dawson, would walk, placing runners on first and second. Two batters later, Kaelyn Stafford would single through the left side of the infield to score Vaughan from second to tie the game at 1-1.

Siena Heights would come back around to the top of the order in the second inning, and the leadoff batter would score a rare inside the park homerun, giving SHU a 2-1 advantage. However, Aquinas would respond in the bottom half of the frame. Darrien Roberts would single, followed by a two-run bomb from Courtney Hardin to take the first lead of the game for Aquinas. Vaughan would single after that and advance to second off of the throw. Dawson would hit a gap shot into right field in the next at bat, allowing Vaughan to score again, giving Aquinas a 4-2 lead.

Fessenden would find her groove and allow no more runs for the remainder of the game. Meanwhile, Aquinas would continue to tack on more runs throughout the innings. Stafford would record an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning to increase the Aquinas lead to 5-2. Both teams would be held to a scoreless inning in the fourth, but Aquinas would blow open the floodgates in the fifth inning.

Stafford would start the bottom half of the inning with a walk, followed by a huge homer from Emma Houseman. Two batters later, Roberts would smash another ball over the wall for the second home run of the inning. Taylor Charon would pinch hit and pick up a walk. Then Hardin would reach second base due to an error from the third baseman. This error would also advance Charon to third. Vaughan would remain hot and score Charon with a single through the left side of the infield. Dawson would follow this play with a sacrifice fly to left field to pick up the mercy rule victory with a 10-2 victory.

Fessenden continues to deal for the Saints as she is now 9-1 on the season after picking up another win today. She currently has a 2.41 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP this season.

Game 2: Aquinas 6, Siena Heights 3

The second game would be much closer in the battle of the Saints. Leah Ash would get the start in the circle for the Aquinas and start off the game with a nice one-two-three inning. Hardin and Vaughan would remain hot and pick up a quick run for AQ in the home half of the inning. Hardin would double to left center, followed by a double from Vaughan over the left fielder to score Hardin from second. Nothing else would transpire for Aquinas in the bottom of the first, but they would still hold a 1-0 advantage.

Ash would pitch another scoreless inning in the second and Aquinas would score another run in the bottom of the second frame. Roberts would single and then steal second base. Roberts would then advance to third on a fielder's choice play. Ashley Snyder would get caught in a pickle between first and second base while attempting to steal second. During the pickle, Roberts would cross home plate. Meanwhile, after some back-and-forth in the base paths, Snyder managed to return to first base, giving AQ a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the third inning, Siena Heights would generate three runs off of four hits, giving SHU a 3-2 lead. Aquinas wouldn't respond again until the bottom of the fourth inning when they would score two runs of its own. Snyder would hit a deep ball into center field that would get lost in the sun. The center fielder would lose the ball in the sun as it fell over the top of her head. This error would allow Emily Cline and Houseman to score, giving AQ the lead back.

Ash would pitch well in the circle for the remainder of the game, holding Siena Heights to just the three runs they already had. AQ would score a couple more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth from a Kim Sosnowski single and a Hardin single, giving AQ a 6-3 lead. Ash would make quick work of Siena Heights in the top of the seventh inning to give AQ its second win of the day.

Ash has also been great this season for Aquinas. She is 8-2 with a 2.20 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP.

The Aquinas Saints have a quick turnaround as they will be taking on Cornerstone University on Tuesday (Apri. 5). The games will be played at the Cornerstone Softball Field and are scheduled for 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM.