CLAREMONT, Fla. -- The St. Catherine University softball team finished day one of THE Spring Games with two wins on Tuesday in Claremont, Florida. St. Kate's defeated Russell Sage College 12-0 in five innings before downing Washington & Jefferson College 4-3. The Wildcats are now 5-3 overall with four games remaining in Florida.
GAME ONE | St. Catherine 12, Russell Sage (5 innings)
The Wildcats tallied seven doubles in the dominating 12-0 victory over Russell Sage led by
Grace Swigart going 3 for 4 with two runs and two RBI. The game opened with St. Kate's scoring three runs in the top of the first inning with hits from Swigart, Maren Ceyonwa, and
Sam Aronson. St. Kate's added four more runs including a series of singles and stole based tht led to unearned runs. The offensive surge continued in the third scoring one more to extend the lead to 8-0. The top of the fourth inning saw two additional runs with
Helen McKinnon delivering a clutch two-RBI single. St. Kate's tacked on two more runs in the fifth making it 2-0 as Russell Sage couldn't mount a comeback.
Hannah Bernier earned the win in the circle collecting four strikeouts and giving up just three hits.
GAME TWO | St. Catherine 4, Washington and Jefferson 3
The Wildcats battled back to tie up the game and eventually secured a 4-3 win against Washington & Jefferson in game two of the day. The game started off with both teams struggling to capitalize on scoring opportunities. Washington & Jefferson managed to load the bases in the top of the first, but their efforts were thwarted by a couple of flyouts and a strikeout, leaving the bases full.
In the top of the 2nd, the Presidents took the lead with a clutch RBI single, however, St. Kate's quickly responded in the bottom of the third, as a series of unearned runs allowed them to take a 3-1 lead. Mayci Larson and G. Swigart both delivered hits, as Ceyonwa drove in a run with a single.
Washington & Jefferson tied things up in the top of the 5th with a big two-RBI single leveling the score at 3-3. But St. Catherine wasn't done. In the bottom of the fifth with one out, they capitalized on an error by the Presidents' second baseman. H. McKinnon was able to score on a single from G. Swigart, giving St. Catherine a 4-3 lead that would stand until the end. In the final two innings, Wash. & Jeff. couldn't get anything going, going down in order in the 6th and 7th innings, as St. Catherine held strong defensively to preserve the win.
Sarah Christy started in the circle for St. Kate's pitching three innings tallying three strikeouts. Taylor Graf earned the win coming in for the final four innings giving up two runs and walking one.
St. Kate's will face Utica University and Skidmore College on Thursday before closing out their time in Florida against Loras College and Catholic University on Friday.
