TUCSON, Ariz. - It didn't take long for Edgewood College's bats to wake up in the early morning hours at Lincoln Regional Park on Saturday afternoon. After recording two hits in two games Friday, the Eagles slugged their way to a 16-5 win over the Loras College Duhawks in the first game of the day before being shut out by No. 16 Central College 8-0 in five innings later on.

The Duhawks got on board right away in the bottom of the first against Eagles starting pitcher Rachel DeJongh on an RBI single through the right side from Regan Wolverton. The Eagles responded in a huge way in the next half inning to push across their first runs of the tournament. First baseman Alyssa Schultiing got the scoring going with an RBI single to left. After a Shannon Whitmus walk that scored another, Alexis Unser crushed a double into the right center gap that drove in two more to make it 4-1 Eagles. Third baseman Katie Landon capped the scoring in the inning with an RBI single up the middle that scored leadoff batter Kylie Clark.

Edgewood College didn't stop there and used their speed on the basepaths to push across some more runs in the next inning. Clark started the scoring with an infield RBI single and was involved in a double steal one batter later by stealing second and allowing Alexis Unser to swipe home after the Loras catcher tried to gun down Clark. Clark then scored after Landon pulled through with another RBI single up the middle.

DeJongh would continue to post strong inningsin the circle and the score would remain 9-4 in the Eagles' favor until Schulting walked in a run in the top of the sixth. Loras would add one more in the bottom half of the sixth, but two Loras errors and two-RBI doubles from Sabrina Maicke and Schulting put the game out of reach for the Duhawks in the seventh. A total of six Eagles had multiple hits for Edgewood College, led by Landon's four with two RBI. Schulting also had two hits and drove in four while Unser had a pair of hits and knocked in three. Clark (3), Jackie Diesch and Kayla Updike were the final three Eagles players with more than one hit.

DeJongh recorded her third win of the year with another complete game effort while allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits. She struck out a pair and put out 15 batters on ground balls. Holly Klein was tagged with the loss for Loras after allowing nine runs (six earned) over three innings of work.

The Eagles couldn't generate quite as much offense against No. 16 Central College (Iowa) but still managed to put together some scoring threats. A Martha Sommers single, a Diesch walk and a Schulting single loaded the bases for the Eagles right away in the first but couldn't find a way to push any runs across against Dutch starting pitcher Trisha Smith. Landon and Diesch strung together two singles two innings later with two outs, but again the Eagles came up empty-handed. 

Central, meanwhile, used a three-run home run off the bat of Kaitlyn Matzen in the first and a two-run bomb in the bottom of the third from Karlee Rock for a 6-0 lead. Eagles starting pitcher Karlie Klossner and relief pitcher Shannon Whitmus kept Central's bats quiet for the next inning but Whitmus ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth. After a leadoff triple, Whitmus allowed three-straight walks to push another run across. Sarah Bowen then ended it with a sacrifice fly to center field. Klossner got the loss after allowing six runs, all earned, on seven hits in 2+ innings of work. 

Sommers, Landon, Diesch and Schulting all recorded hits for the Eagles in the loss but no Edgewood College player posted more than one. The Eagles will return to action in Tucson Sunday at 3:30 pm (CT) against Denison University and will square off against Loras again tomorrow as well at 5:30 pm (CT).