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Carleton Box Score

ROCHESTER, Minn. – The St. Scholastica softball team forced 21st-ranked University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to 10 innings before falling to the Eagles, but responded by defeating Carleton College on Saturday at the Rochester Dome.

In the first game against the 21st-ranked Eagles, CSS pitcher #Jen Falk# allowed just four hits and finished with seven strikeouts in 9.1 innings pitched, but took the hard luck loss. The Saints (1-1) left at least a runner on base in each of the first seven innings. CSS could not push anyone across in both the fourth and seventh innings when they had runners on second and third.

The game remained scoreless after seven innings so the contest went to extra innings and the international tiebreaker rule was put into effect. With this rule, a runner is placed on second base at the start of each half inning.

Both teams had runners thrown out at home in the eighth inning, so the game went to the ninth when #Merryssa Tiedeman# singled in #Rachel Perushek# to make it 1-0. La Crosse (2-0) would tie the game to keep the game going in the bottom of the ninth on a sacrifice fly with one out.

After the Saints went scoreless in the top of the 10th, the Eagles' Kylie Kaiser drove in the game-winning run on a single to make the final 2-1.

#Bonnie Kowalczyk# went 4-for-4 at the plate, while Merryssa Tiedeman (Zumbrota, Minn/Zumbrota-Mazeppa HS) went 3-for-5 with a RBI.

The Saints responded in game two on the day by defeating Carleton College 13-8.

St. Scholastica got off to a fast start by scoring eight runs in the bottom of the first after allowing a run in the top half. Bonnie Kowalczyk (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls HS) and Merryssa Tiedeman (Zumbrota, Minn/Zumbrota-Mazeppa HS) each hit three-run home runs in the inning and #Allison Spiering# drove in another run.

#Shannen Schmidt# later hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third to make the score 10-3. The Knights (0-2) scored three runs in the top of the fourth, but could not get any closer than four runs as the Saints won their first game of the season 13-8.

Kowalczyk continued her superb day by going 3-for-5 with five RBIs to finish 7-for-9 on the day overall. Tiedeman, Schmidt, and Allison Spiering (Mounds View, Minn./Irondale HS) had a pair of hits in the game. #Darcy Roach# went five innings to earn the win.

The Saints will next play in Clermont, Fla. on spring break when they begin with New England College (N.H.) and Fairleigh Dickinson College-Florham (N.J.) on Monday, March 14th.