Livonia, Mich. – The Saints softball team returned to the diamond today (Apr. 23) for a road doubleheader against (RV) Madonna University. AQ entered the series with a 13-3 conference record and was right at the top of the division with Indiana Tech.

AQ dropped the first game of the doubleheader after the Crusaders hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the tenth game to win 1-0. The Saints rallied in the second game and won 6-5 with Izzy Dawson hitting her 28th career home run in the top of the first.

Aquinas improves to 31-13 with a 14-4 WHAC record. At the time of this article being published, AQ is tied with Indiana Tech for the top spot in the standings.

Madonna is now 29-11 this season with a 12-6 conference record.
 
Game 1: Madonna 1, Aquinas 0 (10 Innings)

The first scoring opportunity for the Saints came in the top of the first inning after Emma Houseman hit a double to center field. She was then able to advance to third base after a wild pitch with no outs. However, Madonna's ace, Maeson Schlaud, really settled in and forced a groundout, strikeout, and another groundout to get out of the jam.

Kayla Fessenden continued to deal inside the circle as she ended the fifth inning with a no-hitter intact. Madonna finally got its first hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning with a double to right-center, but Fessenden settled in and got the last out of the inning to keep the score at 0-0.

Madonna put a runner into scoring position again in the bottom of the seventh inning after hitting a leadoff single and stealing second. A fielder's choice play on the next at-bat put runners on first and second with no outs for the Crusaders. However, Fessenden forced a popout, a lineout, and a foul out in quick succession to keep AQ in the game.

The game continued into the tenth inning with both teams struggling to hit the ball. Both Fessenden and Schalud continued pitching into the tenth inning and both pitchers had allowed just four hits each as the game moved into the bottom of the tenth.

Fessenden picked up a strikeout to start the inning, but Madonna finally scored the first run of the game with a one-out home run to center field to win the game.

Fessenden pitched 9.1 innings of scoreless softball, allowing just five hits and one earned run with seven strikeouts.

Dawson and Houseman accounted for all four of AQ's hits in the first game as they both batted 2-4 at the dish.
 
Game 2: Aquinas 6, Madonna 5

AQ put the first game in the rearview mirror quickly as Darrien Roberts started the game with a leadoff single. Leah Vaughan walked on the next at-bat and Dawson proceeded to clear the bases with a massive bomb over the left-center wall. The home run was Dawson's 28th of her career as she now trails Ashley Aspinall's all-time home run mark by just one.

Madonna also got the bats going early and pulled a run back off of a single and a double in the bottom of the first frame. The Crusaders picked up a couple more hits in the bottom of the second to put runners on the corners with one out. Aquinas caught the runner on first stealing, but the home team scored the runner on third to narrow the AQ lead to just one.

Aquinas got back on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning that started with a leadoff single from Courtney Hardin. She stole second and Alexa Kownacki hit her home to give AQ its fourth run of the game.

The back-and-forth game continued as Madonna responded with another run in the bottom of the fourth inning and then scored two more in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a few hits and an error. AQ looked to Grace Maguire to relieve Leah Ash from her pitching duties. Maguire got Aquinas out of the fifth inning without allowing any more runs, but the Crusaders took their first lead of the game with the score now 5-4.

Ashley Snyder got a two-out rally started in the top of the sixth inning with a triple. Houseman walked on the next at-bat and then stole second to put two runners in scoring position with two outs.

On the ensuing at-bat, an error from the right fielder allowed Kim Sosnowski to reach base and let Snyder and Houseman score to retake the lead.

That run would be the final run scored in the game as Maguire locked the Crusaders down over the next two innings to win 6-5.

Ash ended the game with 4.1 innings pitched, allowing four earned runs on ten hits with six strikeouts. Maguire earned her sixth win of the season after 2.2 innings pitched and allowed just one hit.

Dawson ended the second game batting 1-2 with that one hit being the three-run bomb. She also walked twice over the course of the game.

Up next for the Saints is a two-game home series against the Indiana Tech Warriors. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 3:00 PM and could very well determine the winner of the conference regular season.