Whiting, Ind. – The Saints are back on another win streak after another sweep this afternoon (Mar. 19). Aquinas crushed the Calumet Crimson Wave 14-2 in the first game and then ground out an 11-inning second game to a 9-4 finish. These two wins give Aquinas its second consecutive sweep and put the Saints on a five-game winning streak.
AQ now holds an 18-4 record with conference play starting this weekend.
Game 1: Aquinas 14, Calumet 2 (5 Innings)
The doubleheader could not have started any better for Aquinas as it scored 10 runs in the top of the first inning.
Haley Myers was hit by a pitch on the first at-bat before
Kim Sosnowski crushed her first home run of the season to jump out ahead.
AQ kept the pressure on as an RBI single from MaKayla Mott and a
Jessica Dobias walk loaded up the bases with no outs. A massive defensive error brought two more across the plate for a 5-0 lead before
Kenzie Jordan walked to load the bases again.
Another error from the Crimson Wave shortstop granted Aquinas another run prior to an RBI single from Sosnowski.
Courtney Hardin put a bow on the inning with a bases-clearing double, bringing another three runs across the plate for a 10-0 lead.
Calumet responded with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the frame for an incredible 12-run first inning. However, those two runs were the only runs scored by the hosts in game one.
The Saints added another run in the third and three more runs in the fifth. A Mott triple and a Dobias RBI brought the three runs home in the fifth to complete the mercy.
Sophia Pavese earned her seventh win of the season with her four-strikeout performance.
Game 2: Aquinas 9, Calumet 4 (11 Innings)
The second game of the day could not have been any more opposite of the first game. Calumet took its first lead of the day after scoring two runs off of three hits and an error in the first inning. Much-improved Crimson Wave pitching caused a defensive battle throughout the game.
A leadoff double from
Emma Houseman in the fourth put the Saints on the board for the first time this game. AQ went on to tie it up in the sixth as Houseman walked and stole second before
Katie Carlson hit her home.
Incredible defense and pitching from both units forced extra innings and neither team scored until the 10th inning.
Kami Morse was placed on second to start the inning.
Houseman's single advanced her to third and a sacrifice fly to left field from Hardin broke the deadlock. However, a similar series of plays for Calumet tied the game again and pushed the contest to 11 innings.
The scoring floodgates finally opened for Aquinas in the 11th. A runner was placed on second to start the frame and Carlson walked to immediately put two runners on base. A nice sacrifice bunt from Mott put two runners in scoring position to set up a two-RBI single from
Mallory Buikema. Hits from Dobias and Myers drove in four more runs to take a 9-3 lead.
Calumet managed to drive in one run, but couldn't catch up after AQ's six-run 11th inning.
Grace Maguire and
Sydney Bosgraaf combined for a strong 11 innings in the circle. The two allowed just eight hits and struck out 10 over the entirety of the game.
By the Numbers
Aquinas was efficient at stringing together hits this afternoon, scoring 23 runs on 23 hits.
The Saints were busy at the dish today with seven different players recording multiple hits. Sosnowski and Carlson led the way with four hits.
AQ's RBI leader, Hardin, was consistently knocking in runs and ended the doubleheader with a total of seven RBIs.
Up Next
Aquinas plays its first home games of the season this Saturday (Mar. 23) with a doubleheader against Lourdes. The first game is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m.
