Peoria, Ill. – The Loras College softball team kicked off their 2025 season going 4-0 in the Blue Angel Invite at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.
 
Game One: Loras 4, Wisconsin Lutheran 0
 
Loras opened the scoring in the top half of the third inning by taking advantage of three Wisconsin Lutheran fielding errors. Both Whitney Leipold and Gillian Jones reached base on errors before coming around to score. The Duhawks would get one more unearned run in the inning to take a 3-0 lead. Katherine Svigelj extended the lead to four after she delivered a RBI single that scored Jones, who reached on a base hit.
 
Rachel Peat got the win in the circle for Loras, throwing five shutout innings. Peat gave up just four hits while striking out seven. 
 
Game Two: Loras 7, Edgewood 1
 
Kiya Steger put Loras on the scoreboard first with an RBI single that scored Ava Franklin in the first inning. Svigelj started a four run third inning with a solo home run to center field. From there, Dana Skorich reached on a fielder's choice before Steger singled to left center. Skorich and Steger would both later score on Edgewood fielding errors. Jones provided the final run of the inning on an RBI groundout that platted Kaili Henning. The Duhawks would get two more runs in the fourth thanks to RBIs off the bat of Franklin and Steger. 
 
In the cirlce, Steger recorded her first colligate win, giving up just one run in seven innings of work while striking out seven.
 
Game Three: Loras 8, Mount Mary 0 F/5
 
The Loras offense picked up right where it left off in game three of the invite, scoring a run in the first inning and two runs in the third inning, before exploding for a five run fifth inning.
 
After a leadoff walk from Svigelj, Steger delivered an RBI double to give the Purple and Gold a 1-0 lead. Leipold led off the third inning with a walk of her own before crossing home plate on an error. Later in the inning, Svigelj scored thanks to a Skorich RBI double. 
 
The fifth inning started with a Svigelj walk and a Franklin base hit. Then Skorich delivered her second RBI of the game with a base hit to left field. With the bases loaded, Emily Monahan came through with a bases clearning double that platted Morgan Machovec, Henning, and Skorich. 
 
Peat took advantage of the run support and cruised to her second win of the invite. Peat struck out a career high 11 batters, while giving up five hits.
 
Game Four: Loras 8, Knox 0 F/5

Much like the first game on Friday, the Duhawk offense continued to stay hot. Loras got runs in four of the five innings in their final game.
 
In the opening frame, Svigelj scored thanks to an RBI single off the bat of Franklin. Franklin would later come around to score off a Steger groundout. Steger would give the Purple and Gold a 5-0 lead in the third inning thanks to her home run over the center field fence. The next three Loras runs would all come thanks to RBI doubles by Monahan and Alyson Krogman. 
 
Henning kept the Knox offense quit, throwing five inning and striking out five for her first win of the season.
 
Up Next: Loras will head to Oshkosh, Wis. on March 1 to take on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and the University of Wisconsin-Superior as part of the UW-Oshkosh Invitational. Game times are set for 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM.