Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. – The St. Scholastica softball team opened its 2009 season Friday with a doubleheader split against the University of Wisconsin-Stout, losing game one 9-1, but coming back to win game two 8-1 at the Irish Dome.

The Blue Devils took the first game in six innings by way of the eight-run rule. The Saints got on the board in the top of the first when freshman #Theresa Tauer# (Fr.-Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) hit a RBI-double to plate #Chelsey Weiss# (Sr.-Brainerd, Minn.).After a CSS error prolonged the bottom of the first, Stout tied the game with a RBI-single. Stout took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third on a RBI-single to centerfield.

The Blue Devils broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth with a five-run inning to extend their lead to 7-1.All of the runs were unearned. In the bottom of the sixth, Stout's Nelly Peterson hit a two-run home run to end the game by a score of 9-1. The win by Stout snapped a 28-game losing streak for the Blue Devils.

#Kayla Jenkins# (So.-Esko, Minn.) picked up the loss on the mound, going five innings and striking out three . Laura Vanderhoof earned the win in relief for the Blue Devils. Theresa Tauer (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) was 2-for-3 with a RBI double at the plate to lead the Saints offense

It was a totally different story in game two as the Saints prevailed by a score of 8-1. Sophomore transfer #Jenn Falk# (So.-Altona, Man.) went the distance to earn the victory in her first appearance in a Saints uniform.

After Falk struck out the side in the top of the first, CSS scored a run in the bottom of the inning when #Kristin Swartz# (So.-Hermantown, Minn.) hit a run-scoring single to drive in Chelsey Weiss (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd HS). The Saints then had a four-run third inning. With two outs, #Erika Solin# (Jr.-Duluth, Minn./Central) scored on a Blue Devil error. Freshman #Merryssa Tiedeman# (Fr.-Zumbrota, Minn./Zumbrota-Mazeppa) then hit a 3-run home run over the centerfield fence to make the score 5-0.

Falk helped herself at the plate in the fifth inning as she had a RBI-double to right field to score Theresa Tauer (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS). Later in the inning, #Betsy Wehseler# (So.-Ironton, Minn./Crosby-Ironton) drove in Merryssa Tiedeman (Zumbrota, Minn/Zumbrota-Mazeppa HS) to make the score 7-1. After Stout scored its one and only run of game two in the top of the sixth, #Michaela Carlson# (Jr.-Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) had a RBI-single in the bottom of the inning for the Saints' last score of the day as the final was 8-1 CSS.

Falk had 10 strikeouts and allowed just three hits in the complete-game victory. Katie Fichter had the loss on the mound for the Blue Devils. Tiedeman was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored to lead the CSS offense.

The Saints will be action again next weekend, when they compete at the Finlandia Tournament in Marquette, Mich. CSS will face three teams next Saturday, two of which appeared in the 2008 NCAA Division III Softball Tournament (UW-Oshkosh, Simpson College), and the other is a perennial power in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (Hope College). The Saints will open up with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at 9 a.m. next Saturday.