The Xavierite
The Saint Xavier softball team has answered the call in its fall schedule, winning seven of eight games.
Though the games in the fall schedule are officially only scrimmages, the outcomes for the Cougars are encouraging for when the games really count in the spring.
The Cougars played a pair of doubleheaders against archrival Olivet Nazarene University and won all four games before taking two of three in the Kankakee Community College Tournament on Sunday.
Olivet Nazarene hosted Saint Xavier for a doubleheader on Sept. 6, and the Cougars were not very gracious guests. They took the games by final scores of 9-1 and 10-2.
The Cougars have two holdovers from last year’s highly successful pitching staff. Nicole Nonnemacher returns for her junior season while sophomore Callie Brown returns for another year of play.
But the Cougars will have some big shoes to fill in the pitching rotation with the graduation of Nicole’s sister, Megan Nonnemacher.
Last Friday, the Cougars took the field at home against the Tigers of Olivet Nazarene, and the pitching had no trouble in the first game of the doubleheader.
Saint Xavier took game one 8-0 in six innings to get the first (unofficial) shutout of the season. The next game would not be quite such sure outcome.
Saint Xavier could not score quite as many runs and the Cougars also allowed a little more Tiger offense, but the Cougars still came away with the 6-5 victory in game two.
Then, on Saturday, Saint Xavier softball played in the Kankakee Community College Tournament and handily got through the first two rounds.
The Cougars beat Kishwaukee College 6-0 and South Suburban 4-0 before earning a matchup against host Kankakee CC.
That matchup would be the only loss to this point of the fall season, and the Cougars kept it remarkably close. It was just a 1-0 game in which Saint Xavier could not strike offensively.
The Cougars round out their fall schedule at home with a doubleheader Friday against Robert Morris University. Game one is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor