DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica softball team continues conference play as it travels to Northwestern College for a doubleheader this Friday.  The Saints will then travel to Ashland, Wis. on Saturday to face perennial regional power University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Game Times:
Friday at Northwestern – 1 p.m. (DH)
Saturday vs. UW-Eau Claire – Noon (Ashland, Wis.-LumberJill Field)

Last Action: 
The Saints are coming off a 10-3 victory over Northland College to open Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) action this past Sunday.  The Saints put up eight runs in the first two innings to defeat the LumberJills in a battle of the only two teams in the UMAC to have at least a .500 record at the time.

St. Scholastica Saints (9-6, 1-0 UMAC)
The Saints snapped a two-game losing skid after defeating Northland College on Sunday … The Saints will have their first true road games this coming week after playing at neutral sites during their Finlandia Tournament and Spring Break trip … The Saints, voted No. 1 to win the conference by the coaches, will look to defeat Northwestern which was voted to finish No. 2 in the conference … Bonnie Kowalczyk (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls HS) started her campaign to become back-to-back UMAC Player of the Year after raising her batting average from .381 to .394 and now leads the team with 11 total RBIs …  Tiff Hudack (Ashland, Wis./Ashland HS) leads the Saints with the best overall batting average at .396 and team highs in runs scored (13), hits (21), home runs (2), stolen bases (10), and total bases (34) … Darcy Roach (East Grand Forks, Minn./Sacred Heart HS) is coming off an impressive outing only giving up five hits and three runs in a complete game nine strikeout effort vs. Northland … Roach is now 4-4 on the year with a 3.79 earned run average … Jordan Spiering (Mounds View, Minn./Irondale HS) leads all pitchers with a 2.39 earned run average.

Northwestern Eagles (6-12, 1-0 UMAC)
Northwestern opened UMAC play with an 11-1 victory over Crown College on Monday … The Eagles went 3-8 on their Spring Break trip in Florida … Northwestern played at UW-Stout on Tuesday losing both ends of a doubleheader by an eight-run margin … The Eagles were voted to finish second in the conference behind St. Scholastica after falling to the Saints in last year's UMAC Tournament championship game … Briana Rodgers paces the Eagles with a .429 batting average to go along with a team-highs of 21 hits, six doubles, and a .592 slugging percentage … Lauren Walker leads the team with 16 RBIs and is second on the team with four doubles … Molly Johnsen leads the team in pitching with a 3.00 earned run average and .271 opponent batting average to go along with 52 strikeouts on the year.

Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Northwestern: 61-9)
The Saints have won 14 straight against the Eagles, but the Saints had to rally twice against Northwestern last season. The first come-from-behind win was thanks in part to a go-ahead three-run home run by Theresa Tauer (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) in the top of the seventh as CSS trailed by three runs entering the inning. Then in the UMAC championship game, they trailed by two runs before plating four in the bottom of the sixth.

UW-Eau Claire Blugolds (12-8, 4-2 WIAC)
UW-Eau Claire opened up the 2012 year with a 7-5 record after a successful Spring Break trip …The Blugolds opened WIAC play with a sweep of UW-Stevens Point and a split with UW-Platteville and UW-River Falls to start 4-2 in the conference … UW-Eau Claire is coming off  a successful 2011 campaign in which the team made its ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament … The Blugolds are led this year by Taylor Pierce with .426 batting average and team-highs in hits (26), triples (2), stolen bases (16) and total bases (40) … Sarah Fern leads the team with four home runs and 14 RBIs … For the Blugold bullpen, Emma Wishau leads all pitchers with a 2.50 earned run average in 64.1 innings pitched and a opponent batting average of .236 … As a team the Blugolds have a 2.51 earned run average and hold opponents to a .249 batting average … The Blugolds have been picked to finish third in the WIAC this season.

Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. UW-Eau Claire: 6-17)
The Saints have won two of the last three against the Blugolds, including the last time the two teams played in Ashland in 2010 with the Saints coming out with a 3-2 victory. Kowalczyk had two RBIs in the game.