No. 24 ranked Saint Xavier continued their red-hot season this past week, winning five of their six conference games against Trinity Christian College, University of Saint Francis, and Olivet Nazarene University.
Brittany Schultz was almost unstoppable in this stretch of games, recording a total of four home runs and 15 RBIs during the six games.
The first doubleheader of the week came against TCC on Tuesday the 12th, when the Cougars won both games with run-rules; 13-5 (6 innings) and 10-2 (5 innings).
With the two wins against the Trolls, the Cougars recorded four straight games with 10 or more runs for the first time since 2008.
Game one against Trinity Christian was powered by Schultz and Sarah Bowen, who had nine of SXU’s 13 runs.
Schultz went 3-4 with a home run and triple, while Bowen was 2-3 with a double and triple.
Maggie Bailey homered in game two of the afternoon and drove in four runs.
Julianne Claas pitched all five innings of game two and allowed only two earned runs.
University of Saint Francis bested Saint Xavier in the first game on Friday the 15th, losing 5-13. This was also the first conference loss of the season for Saint Xavier.
Schultz was 2-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs and Haefling went 3-3 at the plate with a stolen base.
The game was tightly contested, and tied going into the seventh inning, but the Fighting Saints scored eight runs in their last at bats, putting the game well out of reach for the Cougars.
USF took advantage of errors in their half of the seventh, with seven of their eight runs being unearned.
Saint Xavier bounced back in game two though, winning 11-3.
Alexus Reese homered in the sixth inning and Sarah Bowen and Brooke Koran both had doubles.
Claas had three strikeouts across seven innings, allowing three runs, one unearned.
The last doubleheader of the week was against Olivet Nazarene University on Saturday the 16th, winning game one 10-0, and game two 7-6.
Morgan Haefling and Schultz both had huge days at the plate in game one, both recording four hits in five at bats. Schultz hit her first home run of the day in the third inning, driving in herself and Haefling.
Claas spread out three ONU hits over the seven innings, striking out eight of their hitters.
Game two was the tightest game of the week, a nail-biter down to the final out.
Katie Janiga was 2-3 and Schultz once again homered and drove in 4 runs.
The Tigers tied the game in sixth, but Bowen drove Janiga for the go-ahead RBI in the seventh that would eventually bring the Cougars the win.
The Cougars have two remaining home double-headers before their regular season wraps up, on April 23 and 24, against Lincoln College and Judson University.