TUCSON, Ariz. – So far this spring trip, the Edgewood College softball team has had some tough losses, but Wednesday's games might have taken the cake. The Eagles battled a red-hot pitcher in the morning's 10-0 shutout loss to Baldwin Wallace University before just falling short in a tremendous comeback  against Southwestern University 7-6.

In the afternoon game, Edgewood College found themselves staring in an early hole, but overcame adversity to battle back. Freshman Karlie Klossner got the nod as the starting pitcher, but Southwestern came out swinging and connected for three consecutive singles. After a sacrifice fly and two more singles chased Klossner, Charlie Leikness came into take over on the rubber. Leikness was finally able to get out of the first inning, but not before the Pirates tallied six runs on six hits.

After a quiet second and third, the Eagles began to chip away at the lead. Jackie Diesch led off the fourth inning with a double and Rachel DeJongh singled to move Diesch over to third. Alyssa Schulting then grounded out to second, but plated Diesch on the out. Tiffani Pierce followed that with an RBI fielder's choice. The inning ended with a strikeout, but not before the deficit was cut to 7-2.

Still trailing by five, the Eagles loaded the bases in the sixth. Pierce walked to bring in a run and forced the Pirates to put in a new pitcher. After a dropped fly ball led to another Edgewood College run, Carlene DeCoster singled up the middle to drive in two more and cut Southwestern's lead to 7-6.

Leikness pitched a one-two-three sixth inning, and DeJongh led off the seventh with a single, but the Eagles could not get another run in to extend the game and fell 7-6. Leikness pitched 5.2 innings of solid relief only giving up one hit and one run while striking out three. 

In the morning contest against Baldwin Wallace, Edgewood College ran into a pitcher who was on an unstoppable hot streak. The Yellowjackets' Tabutha Murray had just finished pitching a perfect game when she stepped in the circle against the Eagles. She mowed down Edgewood College through the first three innings while building a five run lead. Then in the fourth, Baldwin Wallace tacked on three more to make the score 8-0. Another three up, three down inning for the Eagles and a pair of runs in the top half of the fifth put the Yellowjackets up 10-0. Still without a base runner, the Eagles were determined to break up Murray's streak, but two strikeouts and a groundout in the fifth completed her second consecutive perfect game. Leikness took the loss for Edgewood College, giving up four earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched.

Freshman Diesch and DeJongh led the Eagles in game one, each with two hits apiece. DeCoster, Jessica Spitzer, and Schulting all had one hit each.

The Eagles are still searching for their first win of the spring trip and they will look to get revenge on Southwestern University Thursday at 11:00 am PT. Edgewood College will then play Concordia University Texas in their final Tucson Invitational game. Live stats for both games will be available on EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.