CHICAGO --- On the verge of gaining a split with NAIA No.14 ranked Saint Xavier University, the University of St. Francis softball team saw those hopes dashed by one person, Brittany Schultz, who had an afternoon to remember. Entering the day with just two home runs on the season, the senior catcher delivered three on Saturday and drove in ten of Saint Xavier's 14 runs in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep of the Saints, 9-1 and 5-4.
 

The biggest of the blows came in the top of the seventh inning of Game 2 when Schultz hit a two-out, three-run home run to wipe out a 4-2 deficit for the game's final runs.  She also accounted for the first two runs of the game on a two-run home run in the first inning.
 

That was just half the story. Schultz also drove in five runs in the opener including four on a second-inning grand slam to make it a 9-0 game at the time. All told, she went 5-for-7 on the day with the tens runs batted in and four runs scored.
 

St. Francis (19-11, 9-9 CCAC) could only counter Saint Xavier's four home runs with one of its own – a two-run shot by first baseman Kayla Garcia (GR/Chicago, Ill.) – on a day where wind gusts were blowing out in the 30-mile-per-hour range at times.
 

Schultz's game-winner marked the third time this season that the Saints had a NAIA Top 20 club on the ropes only to have a late home run ruin the upset bid. USF also had No.16 ranked Olivet Nazarene tied late in one game and leading by a 1-0 count in the other before dropping those two games by 5-4 and 3-2 counts back on April 9.
 

Game 1 --- Saint Xavier 9, USF 1

After the game's first batter was retired, each of the next seven Saint Xavier batters hit safely to build a 5-0 lead in the first half-inning. Schultz, who delivered a run-scoring double in that inning, followed with her grand slam one inning later.
 

USF's only run of the game came in the fifth inning on a wild pitch after second baseman Christina Lorenzatti (FR/Beecher, Ill.) opened the inning with a triple. It was one of only four hits in the game for the Saints.
 

Their only other serious threat came one inning before. USF had runners at second and third base with only one out but Saint Xavier pitcher Allison Golic (18-2) was able to get a pair of strikeouts to get out of the jam.
 

Madisen Tucker (JR/St. John, Ind.) (8-2) took the loss for the Saints.
 

Game 2 --- Saint Xavier 5, USF 4

Schultz got the Cougars (29-2, 18-2) off to a 2-0 start in the first inning only to have Garcia (2-for-3) match her two-run home run in the bottom of the inning. The Saints then took their first lead of the day on an RBI single from Lorenzatti in the second inning. One inning later, left fielder Bridget McDermott (SO/Palos Heights, Ill.) and Tucker connected on back-to-back doubles to double USF's advantage to 4-2. 
 

Saint Xavier was able to get runners in scoring position in two of the next three innings, but USF starting pitcher Hannah Vachon (JR/Oxford, Mich.) (8-5) was able to stop the threat each time. The Cougars then opened the seventh inning with back-to-back singles before Vachon got a forceout and a lineout.
 

The third out, however, came one batter too late after Schultz's third home run of the game put the Cougars over the top.
 

The Saints never threatened in the bottom half of the inning going down in order.
 

USF closes out its busy four-day stretch traveling to Milwaukee on Sunday (May 2) to face Cardinal Stritch University in a conference doubleheader beginning at 3 pm.