Box Score
Just one day before heading to Florida, the St. Catherine University softball team had one last early-morning contest against Crown College to prepare for a challenging spring break schedule.
 
Despite a 6 a.m. start time, the Wildcat bats came alive against the Storm for a big 8-0 win in five innings to help the team improve to 3-0 Wednesday at the Holy Angels Dome in Richfield, Minn.
 
The Wildcats didn't waste any time getting started against the Storm as Alyssa McKee (Spring Lake Park, Minn.) used a single to bring in Kaitlyn Luedtke (Spring Lake Park, Minn.) and Jenna Brady (Greenfield, Minn.) to put the Wildcats up 2-0 after one.
 
After an impressive first inning, things just got better for the Wildcats and catcher Regan Kriechbaum (Faribault, Minn.). The senior cranked her first ever career home run in the second inning to give the Wildcats an early 3-0 lead.
 
The Wildcats added a fourth run in the third inning, while Shae Elliott (Richfield, Minn.) used a bunt single to bring Brady in for her second of three runs on the day and pushed the Wildcat lead to five in the bottom of the fourth.
 
First-year Erin Fitzpatrick (White Bear Lake, Minn.) opened up the fifth with a single in her first collegiate at bat to start things off in the Wildcat scoring streak in the final inning of the game.
 
Fitzpatrick then scored her first collegiate run when fellow first-year Becky Hanson (Brookfield, Wis.) hit a double in her first collegiate at bat to bring two across the plate for the Wildcats.
 
The first-years continued to come up big for the Wildcats when Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn.) followed up Hanson's double with a two-base hit of her own to send Hanson home for the eighth-and-final run to end the game and help the Wildcats remain undefeated.
 
In addition to her impressive at bat, Hanson picked up the save for the Wildcats after Sarah McLennan (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) struck out seven batters in four innings to pick up her first pitching win of the season. The senior faced 13 batters and gave up just one hit to the Storm.
 
At the plate, Brady and Raven Baker (Minneapolis, Minn.) both finished the day 2-for-3 to lead the way for the Wildcats.
 
The Wildcats will head to Clermont, Fla., for 10 non-conference games at the NTC Spring Games tournament and open up play on Friday against Manchester University (9 a.m.) and Framingham State College (11 a.m.).
 
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