DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica softball team will head westward this weekend to take on Presentation College and University of Minnesota Morris in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference action.  Both scheduled matchups for the Saints will be doubleheaders.

Game Time:
Saturday at Presentation College – 1 p.m. (DH)
Sunday at University of Minnesota-Morris – 1 p.m. (DH)

Last Action:
The Saints are coming off a victorious non-conference outing against twin ports rival UW-Superior where they went on to win 14-7 behind a grand slam from Darcy Roach (East Grand Forks, Minn./Sacred Heart HS) and four RBI's from Merryssa Tiedemann.

St. Scholastica Saints (17-8, 8-1 UMAC)
The Saints claim sole possession of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) with an 8-1 record … The Saints are currently riding a seven-game win streak … The Saints have yet to lose at home so far during the 2012 season … The Saints have outscored their opponents 53-9 in the second inning … Offensively, Bonnie Kowalczyk (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls HS) leads the team with a .462 batting average to go along with team highs in doubles (12), home runs (4), slugging percentage (.862), and runs batted in (33) … She also has the fewest strikeouts on the team with only three … Theresa Tauer (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) has the most hits with 34 and has the second best batting average at .420 … On the defensive side, Jordan Spiering (Mounds View, Minn./Irondale HS) leads all pitchers with a 2.86 earned run average to go along with a 6-2 record … Roach has pitched 11 complete games and leads all pitchers with 81 strikeouts … As a pitching staff they have a 3.12 earned run average and hold opponents to a .250 batting average.

Presentation Saints (7-23, 3-8 UMAC)
Presentation had a rough start to the 2012 campaign, only winning 2-of-10 games while in Florida … The Saints sit above last-place Crown in the UMAC standings … Offensively for the Saints, Michelle Stratton leads all batters with a .398 batting average to go along with team highs in hits (37), doubles (9), home runs (5), runs batted in (37), total bases (65), and a .699 slugging percentage … Stratton has yet to strikeout on the year so far … Four other Saints hit above .300 and the team has a .282 combined batting average … On the defensive side, three pitchers share duties with Jenae Pantle leading the way with a 6.83 earned run average followed closely by Danielle Naumann with a 6.88 ERA … The pitching staff has a 7.38 combined ERA and holds opponents to a modest .328 batting average.

Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Presentation: 22-0)
The CSS Saints played the PC Saints three times last season, twice at Kenwood Field and once at the UMAC Crossover in Mankato, with CSS winning all three contests by six runs or more.

Minnesota Morris Cougars (11-13, 8-3 UMAC)
The Cougars had a tough start to the year losing their first ten games until notching two wins over Presentation … The Cougars sit in second place in the UMAC standings behind CSS … Molly Olson leads all batters with a .486 batting average to go along with team highs in hits (34), doubles (11), runs batted in (18), and a .757 slugging percentage … Six other batters hit above .250 … As a team, the Cougar batters collectively hit for a .278 batting average and are second in the conference with 13 home runs … Defensively, Mariah Essig leads the pitching staff with a 3.91 earned run average and has pitched 11 complete games to go along with 68 strikeouts … The bullpen has a 5.41 earned run average and holds opponents to a .333 batting average and has only given up seven home runs and 52 walks on the year.

Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Minnesota Morris: 24-1)
The Saints and Cougars met three times in the 2011 season, with Morris stealing a 1-0 victory (the only win for Morris over CSS in the all-time series) in a pitchers duel in the first game of a doubleheader at Kenwood Field.  The Saints would rebound to win game two the doubleheader and then would win again over the Cougars a week later in the UMAC Crossover held in Mankato.