Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Photo Gallery

DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica softball team took two games from the University of Minnesota-Morris this afternoon at Kenwood Field, winning game one 16-2 and game two 10-1 both in five innings.

The Saints improve to 21-11 overall and 14-1 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC). That marks back-to-back 20-win seasons for the Saints and the eighth-time under head coach Jen Walter. Walter needs just four more wins to reach 300 for her career. The Cougars fall to 12-20 overall and 9-6 in the conference.

After Morris plated two runs in the top of the first of game one, the Saints responded in a big way with seven runs in the bottom half. The first seven CSS hitters reached base. #Theresa Tauer# (So.-Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) had a two-run triple in the inning. Senior #Kristin Swartz# (Sr.-Hermantown, Minn.), #Bonnie Kowalczyk# (Fr.-Menomonee Falls, Wis.), #Kali Carlson# (So.-Duluth, Minn./Central), and senior #Erika Solin# (Sr.-Duluth, Minn./Central) all had RBIs in the first.

The Saints added three more in the second with Carlson and #Jen Falk# (Jr.-Altona, Man.) picking up RBIs to make it 10-2. Swartz hit her fourth home run of the season and #Brittni Johnson# (Jr.-Thief River Falls, Minn./Lincoln) had a RBI-double in the third to make the score 12-2. CSS tacked on four more runs in the fourth, three of which coming from a three-run home run by #Rachel Perushek# (Jr.-Eveleth, Minn./Eveleth-Gilbert), her first as a Saint, to make the final 16-2.

Jen Falk (Altona, Manitoba/W.C. Miller Collegiate (Rainy River CC)) struck out 10 on the mound and with the exception of the two-run home run in the first, did not allow a runner to reach second base. Bonnie Kowalczyk (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls HS) was 3-for-3 with a RBI and three runs scored to lead CSS offensively.

In game two, #Merryssa Tiedeman# (So.-Zumbrota, Minn./Mazeppa) led off with a single for CSS, which extended her hitting streak to 17 games, a new program record. Kristin Swartz (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown HS) followed with a RBI-triple, her 15th of her career, three shy of the program record. The Saints added two more in the inning to make it 3-0 after one.

Three straight doubles opened the bottom of the second with Tiedeman cashing in two runs with her hit to extend it to 5-0. #Betsy Wehseler# (Jr.-Ironton, Minn./Crosby-Ironton) had a RBI-single in the third to make it 6-0.

In the fourth, Swartz had a RBI-double and Theresa Tauer (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) had a three-run home run to make it a 10-0 game. Morris added a run in the fifth to make the final score 10-1.

#Shannen Schmidt# (Fr.-De Pere, Wis.) struck out six to earn the victory. Tiedeman was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead CSS offensively in game two.

The Saints will be in Ashland, Wis. on Tuesday where they will play Northwestern College and Crown College in a couple of neutral site games. The Northwestern game begins at 3 p.m. and Crown contest starts at 5 p.m.