Saints' Softball Claims Split on Day Two of ONU Tourney

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- The Siena Heights softball team split a pair of games on Saturday at the Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) Tournament, earning a 6-1 victory over Trinity Christian (Ill.) before dropping a 5-1 decision to Robert Morris (Ill.).

The Saints (17-15) used a five-run first inning to take command in their win over TCC.

Brittney Rhodes (East China, Mich./Marine City) led off the Siena Heights first with a solo home run. With one out, Katie O'Hotzke (New Boston, Mich./Huron) singled and Anna Alcorta (Adrian, Mich./Adrian) walked to set up an RBI single by Taylor Hayes (Southgate, Mich./Riverview Gabriel Richard). The final three Saint runs of the inning came in on errors.

Siena Heights tacked on their sixth run in the third when Hayes blasted a solo homer.

Trinity Christian (4-18) answered for its only run in the sixth. Brianna Brugioni drove in the score with a sacrifice bunt.

O'Hotzke was the winning pitcher. She gave up three hits and zero earned runs while finishing with eight strikeouts and one walk.

Hayes batted 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs. Tonya Berta (Ida. Mich./Ida) added two stolen bases for SHU.

Jayme Love was the losing pitcher, giving up three earned runs on six hits while compiling two strikeouts, four walks and one hit batsman.

In the loss to RMU, the Saints took the lead in the first on an Alcorta double, but that ended up being SHU's only score. Rhodes, who reached base with a single, scored on Alcorta's hit.

The Eagles (19-10) came back with two runs in the first -- one on a Madlyn Joyce double and one on a Nikki Goranson single.

In the fourth, RMU expanded its lead to 3-1 with an RBI sac bunt from Katie Lepper. Leah Challenger added an RBI single during the Eagles' two-run fifth.

Hayes suffered the loss for SHU. She gave up three earned runs on nine hits. She also had four strikeouts and one walk.

For RMU, Challenger batted 3-for-3 while Joyce was 2-for-3 in support of Lauren Huber, who gave up one run on four hits. Huber had four strikeouts.

The Saints will be in action next on Tuesday with a pair of Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference games against Concordia, beginning at 4 p.m.