Box Score DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica softball team used nine first inning runs en route to its 12th Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament Championship, defeating Northland College 16-1 in five innings on Sunday at Kenwood Field.

With the victory, the Saints receive the conference's automatic qualifier into next weekend's NCAA Division III Tournament. It will be St. Scholastica's fourth NCAA Tournament appearance with the last taking place in 2012.

The LumberJills would get their two batters on base to start the game, but both would be stranded. The Saints then had a runner on first with two outs in the bottom frame when the scoring barrage began.

Nikki Logergren (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Denfeld HS (Northern Stars)) started with a single. Molly Jazdzewski (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS) then drew a walk to load the bases. Kasandra McCabe (St. Peter, Minn./St. Peter HS) followed with another walk to force in Rendi Johnson (Bonney Lake, Wash./Bonney Lake HS). Chrisi Mizera (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East HS) then hit a two-run single to make it 3-0. Sydney Gordon (International Falls, Minn./Falls HS) followed with a RBI single to center. Micah McGuiness (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) then walked to load the bases again. Tiff Hudack (Ashland, Wis./Ashland HS) followed with a two-run single to make it 6-0. Johnson followed with a two-run double and Kara Warren (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Denfeld HS) concluded the scoring with a RBI double to make it 9-0 after one inning.

After Northland got a run in the top of the second, the Saints added seven runs in the fourth inning. Becca Zwak (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS), Emily Schiro (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Armstrong HS) and Hannah Borgeson (Woodville, Wis./Baldwin-Woodville HS) had RBIs in the innings. Johnson hit a two-run home run to make it 16-1 and that is how the game ended after five innings.

McGuiness picked up the win, striking out eight and scattering six hits in five innings. Warren was a home run short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored. With Warren's double, she set the single-season record for doubles (20). Hudack, Johnson and Logergren all had two hits.  

St. Scholastica extends its winning streak to a program record 21 games and its home winning streak to 26 games. CSS still has yet to lose a UMAC Tournament game at home.

The Saints (27-10) will find out who and where they will play in the NCAA Tournament Monday morning at 9 a.m. on NCAA.com. This year the NCAA Tournament has a different format with 16 four or three team regionals taking place next weekend. The winners of those regionals then move on to eight best-of-three super-regionals the following weekend before the eight-team National Championship takes place Memorial Day weekend.