TUCSON, Ariz. - Two big innings from UW-La Crosse were too much to overcome for Edgewood College Tuesday morning in a 9-0 loss in five innings and Crown College scored a run in the bottom of the seventh in the second game of the day. The Eagles close out the Tucson Invitational Games with a record of 2-8 and are now 4-10 overall heading into the conference season.

Both of Edgewood College's hits in the UW-La Crosse game came in the first inning after Kylie Clark led off with a single through the left side and Jackie Diesch hit safely just two batters later. But UW-La Crosse's starting pitcher Megan Nelson buckled down and held the Eagles hitless for the next three innings. She struck out two and walked one before being replaced by Jessie Carnigan, who pitched a 1-2-3 fifth to close things out.

UW-La Crosse scored four in the second inning and five in the fourth off of Eagles' starting pitcher Rachel DeJongh. Leftfielder Emily Holldorf led the charge offensively by going 3-for-4 with an RBI while leadoff hitter Kerrigan Koch was 1-for-4 with a run and 2 RBIs. DeJongh went five innings and allowed nine runs on 11 hits while striking out a pair.

Crown College jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings in the second game of the day but the Eagles stormed back in the later innings to make it a nail-biter. Kayla Updike made it 4-2 after she doubled to left field to knock in Sabrina Maicke and Alyssa Schulting in the top of the fourth, but Crown responded in the next half inning with a sac fly off the bat of Sofia Palacios to make it 5-2 in favor of the Storm.

Edgewood College tied things up two innings later. Katie Landon scored the first run of the inning after an error while Updike doubled to right center to score Maicke. Martha Sommers had the other RBI in the inning after an infield single to second base scored Updike. 

Kate McLaughlin singled to right to knock in Alisha Promis off of Eagles' relief pitcher Shannon Whitmus in the bottom of the seventh. Whitmus was tagged with the loss and dropped to 0-1 on the year but allowed only three hits in her 2.1 innings of work. She also struck out two. Karlie Klossner began the game on the mound for the Eagles and allowed five runs—three earned—on eight hits over four innings of work. 

The Eagles pounded out 12 hits and had four batters with multiple hits. Sommers, Schulting, Maicke and Updike each finished with two hits while Updike led the team with three RBIs. Maicke was the lone Eagles player to score two runs in the effort.

The Eagles will be off until Saturday, March 28, when they will play Benedictine in a NACC matchup at home at Ceniti Park in Verona, Wis. The first game of the doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 12 pm.