LINCOLN, Ill. --- The University of St. Francis softball team welcomed newest Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference member Lincoln College to the league by dishing out a pair of losses to the Lynx with 8-0 and 8-3 victories on Sunday afternoon.
USF pitchers Hannah Vachon (JR/ Oxford, Mich.), Madisen Tucker (JR/St. John, Ind.), and Bridget McDermott (So/Palos Heights, Ill.) combined for 17 strikeouts on the day against just one walk. Vachon also missed a no-hitter by just one out.
USF scored in five straight innings over the two contests to extend its winning streak to a season-high five games. After collecting ten hits in the opener, the Saints took full advantage of seven Lincoln errors in the nightcap leading to all but two of their runs being unearned.
First baseman Kayla Garcia (GR/Chicago, Ill.) drove in four of USF's 16 runs on the day with her 3-for-6 afternoon.
Game 1 --- USF 8, Lincoln 0
After a scoreless first two innings, the Saints tallied runs in each of their final four at bats highlighted by a four-run fourth inning. Right fielder Bridget McDermott (SO/Palos Heights, Ill.) sparked it with an inning-opening home run, which was followed by run-producing hits from second baseman Sam Raspopovich (SO/Lockport, Ill.), center fielder Carlie Benes (JR/Valparaiso, Neb.), and third baseman Danielle Callahan (JR/New Lenox, Ill.) (2-for-3).
Garcia opened and closed the scoring with an RBI double in the third inning and a two-run single in the sixth inning. In between, catcher Maddie Massaro (SO/Romeoville, Ill.) also drove in a run with a single.
Vachon (3-1) fell one out short of recording a six-inning no-hitter allowing a single followed by a double before preserving her second shutout of the campaign. She struck out seven batters against no walks with one hit batsmen.
Game 2 --- USF 8, Lincoln 3
USF continued where it left off in the first game by scoring a pair of runs in the first inning of Game 2. Like Game 1, the Saints also produced a four-run fourth inning in the nightcap.
Garcia and Kaylie Sippel (FR/Beecher, Ill.) were the only two Saints to deliver RBIs via hits with the majority of the runs coming home to score on Lincoln errors.
Tucker (6-0) struck out eight batters in her six innings of work. She allowed four hits and one walk with only two of her three runs allowed being earned.
McDermott closed things out with a scoreless seventh inning, which included a pair of strikeouts.
The Saints (10-2, 2-0 CCAC) are right back at it on Monday when they head to Missouri to face William Woods University in a doubleheader beginning at 3 pm.
