St. Scholastica's hot bats—they've averaged better than 15 runs per game over their past five outings—maintained their heat as the Saints defeated visiting Northland College 9-1 in five innings at Kenwood Field on Tuesday afternoon.

 

Scoring at least a run in every inning, third place St. Scholastica (15-19, 14-5 UMAC) authoritatively took down the LumberJills (20-16, 17-4) who stand one spot above them in the current conference standings.

 

The second batter to the plate for the Saints, Kristen Swartz, got things going with a sharp single up the middle then came in to score the game's first run two batters later when Kayla Kahilainen (New York Mills, Minn./New York Mills HS) wrapped a single that followed the path Swartz' burned in the dirt.

 

Four more runs came in for the Saints in the second, keyed by a 2-RBI single through the left side by Swartz for her second hit of the game.

 

On the mound for St. Scholastica, starter Mary Jo McNamee (Escanaba, Mich./Escanaba Senior HS) pitched one of her best outings of the year allowing just three hits by the 'Jills in the first four innings to hold on to her shutout bid.

 

Northland finally broke through with an unearned run in the top of the fifth but the Saints were ahead 8-1 at the time and Mya Gordon (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS)'s run on a Swartz single to right with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning ended the game by the 8-run lead, 5^th-inning rule.

 

Swartz ended the day 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBI and a run scored while Kahilainen, the UMAC Player of the Week, added two RBI.

 

McNamee (6-8) earned the win allowing just the one unearned run on five hits, a walk and a strikeout over five innings. Northland's Brittany Schmitt (10-8) took the loss surrendering six earned runs on 12 hits and a walk to the Saints. Schmitt also struck out a pair.

 

Three Saints, Kahilainen, Katie Brown (Emmett, Idaho/Emmett HS), and Gina Garramone (Duluth, Minn./Moorhead Senior HS), were recognized before the game on Senior Day. The trio have now won 55 UMAC games and lost only six during their careers, and have captured three regular season and three postseason UMAC tournament titles.