Contact:
Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243
LEESBURG, Fla. (Mar. 18, 2022) - The Loras College softball team (11-1, 0-0 A-R-C) continued competition in THE Spring Games on Friday morning as they squared off against the Saints from the College of St. Scholastica (8-6, 0-0 MIAC) and the Cardinals from Wesleyan University (4-6, 0-0 NESCAC). The Duhawks earned a pair of wins to secure their 11th victory of the season, winning their seventh game in their trip to the Sunshine State.
Game one of the morning stayed relatively quiet through the first four innings of the game with neither side recording a hit until the top of the third inning as
Claire Peachey recorded a single to right field. In the top of the fifth inning, Peachey recorded the Duhawks' second, and last, hit of the game as she drove in the game-winning runs on an RBI double that scored
Ashlyn Hemm, who reached on a lead-off walk, and
Nicole Bendig to secure the 2-0 win.
Hemm got the start in the circle for the Duhawks and had a no-hitter going until the bottom of the sixth inning, but she kept the Saints in check with nine strikeouts to her name in the complete game shutout. Peachey led the Duhawks offensively with the team's two hits, going 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI in the game.
The Duhawks met up with the Wesleyan University Cardinals in the second game of the day and wasted no time putting runs on the board. After a scoreless first inning for both sides, the Duhawks stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the second inning where
Clare Murphy led off with an infield single beofre advancing to second on a passed ball with
Whitney Leipold at the plate. Leipold grounded out to third base but moved Murpy to third on the play, later to score on a wild pitch on a walk drawn by Bendig to put Loras up 1-0.
Wesleyan tied the game up at one run a side in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI single to right field but the Duhawks grabbed the lead right back in the bottom of the same inning as Murphy led the inning off by reaching on an infielder error. With an out in the inning, Bendig hit into a fielder's choice that saw Murphy out at second on the play before Peachey and
Emily Monahan drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for
Ellie Schill. With two outs in the inning, Schill hit a hard ball to third base that saw Schill reach on an error while Bendig and Peachey crossed home, taking advantage of Wesleyan's defensive errors. A batter later,
Abby Jones hit a single that scored Schill and Monahan to extend the Duhawks' lead to 5-1 at the end of the fourth.
In the top of the fifth inning, Wesleyan scored the last run of the game on a solo homerun by Sophia Sciarappa but the Duhawks held on to take the 5-2 victory.
Kayla Stich picked up her first win of the season in the circle, throwing 5.0 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with a strikeout before
Shandi Rulli got her first save of the season, pitching 2.0 innings and striking out three while allowing only one hit.
The Duhawks recorded six hits in the game, led by Jones and Murphy who had two each while
Grace Houghton and Leipold added one apiece.
Loras wraps up play in THE Spring Games on Saturday, Mar. 19 as they take on the Knox College Prairie Fire and the Kalamazoo College Hornets. The last time the Duhawks met up with Knox, they took a dominant 8-0 victory in five innings of play. First pitch against the Prairie Fire is scheduled for 11:45 AM (ET) with the next game immediately to follow.
