TUCSON --- The fifth inning proved to be both a boon and a bane for the University of St. Francis softball team on Monday afternoon as the frame helped notch a 5-3 come from behind win over University of Jamestown (N.D.) before turning victory into defeat in a 6-4 setback to Dakota Wesleyan University (S.D.).  The Saints (5-3) tallied all five runs of the opener in the inning, while yielding four of the six runs in the nightcap.

Bridget McDermott (4-0) made sure to keep her perfect pitching record intact with a clutch hit in the opener, while Danielle Callahan continued her hot start to the trip with three more hits on Monday. She now has eight hits in her first 13 at bats (.615). She also homered for the second straight day and extended her hitting streak to seven games.

Game 1: USF 5, Jamestown 3
Jamestown started the game with four straight hits to open up a 3-0 lead, but McDermott shut the door on the Jimmies (8-5) the rest of the way. After yielding two more hits in the second, the junior hurler retired 16 of the final 18 batters she faced with only one walk and a single disrupting the string of outs.

McDermott needed to do more, however, to turn defeat into victory and she did just that along with five of her teammates. After amassing just one hit – a Callahan single – through the first four innings, the Saints rang up their other six hits in the five run inning.

Gracyn Gabriel started things with her leadoff triple and scored on a wild pitch. Maddie Massaro then made it a 3-2 game with a single to right field before the Saints tied it up later on a throwing error. McDermott then capped off the comeback with her two out, two run single to right field.

Also providing hits in the inning were Kenna Kleinert, Maddie Eckberg, and Brittany Osborne.

McDermott struck out seven batters in the route going performance.

Game 2: Dakota Wesleyan 6, USF 4
A walk and an error to open the fateful fifth inning was followed by a thre -run home run off the bat of McKinnely Mull, which turned a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead for the Tigers, who added one more run later on in the inning.

Prior to that, the two teams exchanged runs in the first inning with USF's tally coming on McDermott's second home run of the season. A passed ball and a run scoring single from Osborne put the Saints out in front 3-1 one inning later.

Dakota Wesleyan (6-9) got one of those runs back in the third inning with a two-out double before putting together the rally in the fifth inning.

Callahan added her second RBI of the game in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly. Callahan, McDermott, and Massaro all registered a pair of hits in the contest to finish with three hits each for the day.

Hannah Vachon (1-3) struck out ten batters in her five innings of work.

Up Next
Concordia University (Neb.) and Presentation College (S.D.) await the Saints on Tuesday.

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