Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

WATERTOWN, Wis. – After being rained out over the weekend, the Edgewood College softball team looked to open a busy week of road games with a pair of victories at Maranatha Baptist. However, the Crusaders had other ideas as they scored three runs in the third inning of game one to take the contest 3-1. The Eagle offense responded with a 13-run outing in the nightcap and held on to win a 13-10 decision.

The first game was a pitcher's duel between Charlie Leikness and Jana Dempsey of Maranatha Baptist. The hurlers only gave up nine combined hits and four runs in the game. Edgewood College jumped ahead in the first inning as Alexis Unser singled off of Dempsey and stole second. After moving to third on a groundout, Unser scored on an error to put the Eagles ahead. However, Dempsey shutdown the Eagle offense from that point on as she only allowed six base runners the rest of the game.

Leikness matched Dempsey pitch-for-pitch except for the third inning. Torey DeLozier started the inning with a double and advanced to third on an error. She later scored to tie the game at one on a Rosa Lewis single. Lewis then scored on an Autumn Peotter triple before Emily Thomson dropped down a squeeze bunt to put the Crusaders ahead 3-1.

Leikness threw well the rest of the game, but the Eagle offense could not solve Dempsey as Maranatha Baptist took the game 3-1. The win snapped Edgewood College's 30-game winning streak against the Crusaders. Maranatha Baptist last defeated the Eagles in 1999. Leikness struck out two against just one walk in six innings of work. Carlene DeCoster recorded half of the Eagles' hits as she went 2-for-4 from the leadoff spot.

The nightcap was anything but a pitcher's duel as the Eagles (10-16, 3-9 NAC) started the scoring in the top of the first inning. DeCoster opened the game with a single before being sacrificed to second by Kayla Rackow. Jessica Spitzer scored DeCoster when she ripped a single. After stealing second and moving to third on a passed ball, Spitzer scored on a Katie Landon single who later scored on a Jessica Diaz single to put the Eagles up 3-0.

Edgewood College tacked on two more runs in the third to give pitcher Brittany Andrews a 5-0 cushion. The lead swelled to 10-0 after a five run, six hit fourth inning. The frame was highlighted by a two-run Landon single before Unser capped the inning with a run scoring single, and it looked as though the Eagles would cruise to victory.

However, the Crusader offense woke up in the bottom of the fourth inning. Maranatha Baptist (7-19, 2-14 NAC) dropped down a pair of squeeze bunts to cut the deficit to 10-2. After Spitzer hit her eighth home run of the season in the fifth inning, the Crusaders tacked on six runs on five hits in the bottom of the fifth. Dempsey laced a two-run single to cut the deficit to 11-7 and chase Andrews from the game. Maranatha Baptist added one more run and the game went to the sixth with the Eagles clinging to an 11-8 lead.

Edgewood College held a 13-9 going to the bottom of the seventh inning which Sadie Joutras started with a single. She was promptly sacrificed to second base and later scored on an error Joutras to make the scored 13-10. DeLozier followed with a single, but Leikness induced a pop and groundout to give the Eagles the win and earn her first save of the season.

Edgewood College's 13 runs are the most they have scored all season and the most since last April when they scored 23 runs against Maranatha Baptist. DeCoster went 3-for-5, scored a run and drove in a run from the leadoff spot while Spitzer went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and two runs batted in. Landon was the third Eagle to record three hits as she went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and drove in three more runs. Diaz went a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs scored, two runs batted in and two walks in the game.

The Eagles will be in action again when the travel to Wisconsin Lutheran College on Thursday to make-up the doubleheader that was rained out on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. in Milwaukee.