TUCSON --- The University of St. Francis softball team closed out its Arizona trip by gaining a split of its final two games, marking the fifth split in the six days that the Saints competed out west. USF opened with a 7-0 shutout of Dakota State University (S.D.) before dropping a 7-5 decision to Valley City State University (N.D.) to finish the trip at 7-5. Overall, the Saints are 10-6.
Hannah Vachon (3-5) recorded her second shutout in the circle this spring in Game 1, while
Bridget McDermott (7-1) had her run of perfection stopped at seven games in the second contest.
Maddie Massaro had her second great day in a row at the plate with four total hits, including three in Game 2. She went 10 for 13 (.769) over her final two days to jump to the top spot on the team in hitting (.434).
Madisen Tucker and
Gracyn Gabriel also hit safely in both ends of the doubleheader.
Danielle Callahan produced multiple hits against Dakota State, but went without one in Game 2 to snap a 14 game hitting streak. Nonetheless, she has hit safely in 14 of the team's 16 games this season resulting in a .393 batting average, second best on the club.
Game 1: USF 7, Dakota State 0
A five run second inning and Vachon's second shutout of the season enabled the Saints to record their tenth victory of the season.
Each of the first five batters reached base in the big inning with
Maddie Eckberg and
Brittany Osborne driving home the runs. Eckberg reached on an error – one of two in the inning for Dakota State (1-7) – to drive in the first run with the second run coming home on the error. Osborne followed with a two-run single one batter later. USF's final run of the inning scored on a wild pitch.
Eckberg added another RBI in the third inning on a fielder's choice, while
Kaylie Sippel did the same in the sixth inning with a single to close out the scoring. Sippel and Tucker joined Callahan with a pair of hits each.
Vachon scattered four hits over her seven innings of work, while striking out four batters against no walks.
Game 2: Valley City State 7, USF 5
Valley City State (10-8) scored all seven of its runs after two outs, including six in the bottom of the first inning highlighted by
Anne-Elise Gest's grand slam to cap the inning.
The Saints (10-6) had their opportunities to score runs early, as well, putting two runners on base with only one out in each of the first two innings only to come up empty. For the game, they would leave nine runners on base.
USF finally broke free in the third inning when it got to within 6-4 on RBIs from Sippel, Tucker, and
Mollie Beckman. The latter delivered a two out, two run, pinch hit single.
Tucker, in relief of McDermott, quelled the Valley State bats after the first inning, permitting only one run over the final five innings.
Massaro drove in the Saints' final run with her single up the middle in the sixth inning to bring the deficit back down to two runs after Valley City State added its final run two innings earlier. She was the only Saint to record multiple hits, going 3 for 4 with one run scored.
Up Next
The Saints welcome Cornerstone University (Mich.) to town on Saturday for the home opener. The first game of the doubleheader is slated to begin at 1 pm.
Live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with all things USF on Twitter @USFSaints.
