CHICAGO – No. 2 seed Saint Xavier University softball (32-12/17-3 CCAC) won twice on day one of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament Thursday afternoon at the Crown Point SportsPlex in Crown Point, Ind. The Cougars defeated No. 7 Calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind.), 11-3 in five innings, to advance and they took down No. 3 Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) by a score of 6-3 in the night cap. Junior pitcher
Laila Summers (Joliet, Ill./Providence Catholic) was the victor in the circle for both contests and move her record to 20-7 on the year. Summers is just the ninth pitcher in team history to post 20 or more wins in a season. SXU also set a program record for stolen bases in a season, totaling eight steals on the day, and now has 102 for the year, surpassingthe 2012 squad that stole 94 bases.
Game One:
- Senior infielder Morgan Haefling (Gilberts, Ill./Hampshire) was 4-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
- Junior infielder Alexus Reese (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run.
- Freshman infielder Kaitlyn Wright (Chicago, Ill./Marist) collected two hits in three at-bats with three RBI and a double.
- Senior outfielder Lyda Robinson (Seneca, Ill./Seneca) scored three runs, swiped three bases, drew a walk and finished 2-for-3.
- Senior outfielder Nicole Lovato (Channahon, Ill./Minooka Community) was 2-for-2 with two runs scored, two stolen bases, an RBI and a walk.
- Sophomore infielder Abbie Carr (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) finished 1-for-2 with two RBI and a run.
- Summers threw 3.0 innings to qualify for the win and allowed just three hits, one run, a walk and had a strikeout.
- Junior pitcher Alyssa Frey (Sheboygan, Wis./Trinity International/Sheboygan South) pitched the final 2.0 innings with three hits allowed, two runs (both unearned), a walk and four strikeouts.
- Saint Xavier rallied for five runs in the bottom of the 1st. Reese lined an RBI single back up the middle, Carr lifted a sacrifice fly and Wright ripped a bases-clearing three-run double to the gap in right center.
- Carr made it 6-0 in the bottom of the 2nd with an RBI base hit.
- The Crimson Wave got on the board in the top of the 3rd with a two-out RBI single.
- The Cougars tacked on four runs in the bottom of the 4th to go up 10-1. Lovato sliced an RBI single through the left side of the infield, Reese lined an RBI base hit, a double steal netted a run and Haefling hit an RBI single.
- CCSJ hit a two-out, two-run double in the top of the 5th, however both runs were unearned.
- Haefling ended the game in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single with the bases loaded.
Game Two:
- Senior outfielder Sarah Bowen (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and a walk.
- Reese was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
- Haefling went 1-for-2 with a triple, a run and a walk.
- Wright hit an RBI triple, scored and finished 1-for-3.
- Summers went the distance, scattering nine hits over 7.0 innings with three runs and three strikeouts.
- Haefling led off the top of the 5th with her team-leading fourth triple down the left field line and scored on the RBI triple by Wright. Freshman designated player Haley Matlock (Indianapolis, Ind./Southport) drove in Wright with an RBI groundout.
- The Tigers got a run back in the bottom of the 5th on a one-out RBI single. Summers induced a pair of groundouts to get out of the frame.
- Sophomore catcher Lindsay Morgan (Huntley, Ill./Keiser/Huntley) hit a sac fly to bring in one run and Bowen tagged up from second base and scored on an error to push the lead to 4-1 in the top of the 6th.
- ONU scored in the bottom of the inning off an RBI groundout.
- Reese lined a one-out RBI single, and Carr drove in a run off an error in the top of the 7th.
- Olivet Nazarene hit a two-out RBI single before Summers rolled a groundball to Wright at third to end the game.
Saint Xavier (32-12/17-3 CCAC) advances to the semifinals of the championship bracket and will face No. 4 Roosevelt University (Ill.) at 2:30 pm on day two of the CCAC Tournament at the Crown Point SportsPlex in Crown Point, Ind.