MILWAUKEE --- The University of St. Francis softball team outhit Cardinal Stritch University, but could not outscore the Wolves, dropping 3-2 and 4-2 contests in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Sunday afternoon.
 

The Saints (19-13, 9-11 CCAC) totaled seven hits in the opener to Cardinal Stritch's six, while producing a 10-7 advantage in the nightcap but were able to manage just two runs in each game. In Game 2, USF also left eight runners on base.
 

Pitcher/left fielder Bridget McDermott (SO/Palos Heights, Ill.) was the lone St. Francis player to total more than two hits on the day, going 3-for-5 with one run batted in.   
 

Game 1 --- Cardinal Stritch 3, USF 2

In the opener, the Saints had two opportunities to strike first, but came up empty each time. They had runners at first and second base with only one out in the first inning and the bases loaded with no one out in the second inning.
 

Cardinal Stritch picked up its runs in the second and fourth innings with the first run scoring on a bases-loaded hit bastman. The Wolves' two runs in the fourth inning were both unearned.
 

St. Francis got back in the game in the fifth inning on Christina Lorenzatti's (FR/Beecher, Ill.) two-run home run, but the Saints never threatened again.
 

Hannah Vachon (JR/Oxford, Mich.) (8-6) took the loss on the mound, despite striking out eight batters against only one walk. She did yield six hits, but only one of the three runs charged against her was earned.
 

Game 2 --- Cardinal Stritch 4, USF 2

Each starter in the lineup recorded a hit for the Saints, but they could only push across two runs for the second game in a row. Back-to-back two-out hits from McDermott (2-for-3) and designated player Madisen Tucker (JR/St. John, Ind.) drove in the two runs in the third inning.
 

That 2-0 lead, however, did not last long as Lauren Stoch wiped out that advantage with one swing of the bat in the bottom half of the inning to put the Wolves up for good.  She made the Saints pay for issuing a pair of walks in the frame with her three-run home run. The hosts added one more insurance run in the sixth inning.
 

USF's only serious scoring threat the rest of the way came in the sixth inning when the Saints loaded the bases with two outs, but Cardinal Stritch was able to get out of it with a forceout. 
 

McDermott (3-3) was charged with the loss in the circle.  
 

The Saints wrap up the regular-season portion of their schedule on Tuesday when they host Trinity Christian College in a conference doubleheader beginning at 4 pm.