GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - - The Madonna softball team split its Sunday double header at Aquinas, winning game one 5-0 before falling 10-9 in the night cap. With the split, MU remains in first in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference standings at 14-4 and is 26-12-1 overall. AQ is in second at 13-7; 22-10 overall.

GAME ONE
Neither side could muster a hit until the Crusaders scored a run in the top of the fourth inning. Cat Sidor (Livonia, Mich.) tripled to open the inning and came home on Tedi Johnston’s (New Boston, Mich.) sacrifice fly to right for a 1-0 lead.

The Crusaders broke the game open in the fifth, scoring four times to put the game away. Mary Kate Setta (Grass Lake, Mich.) led off with a single and after Kathleen Smiley (Wixom, Mich.) advanced Setta on a sac bunt, Kelly Lesko (Trenton, Mich.) scored Setta with a single for a 2-0 lead. Brittney Scero (Canton, Mich.) then scored Lesko with a single of her own for a 3-0 lead. Johnston made it 5-0 when she hit her first home run of the season two batters later, scoring Scero.

MU starter Jess Irwin (Monroe, Mich.) put it on cruise control from there, getting the Saints to go down in order in the seventh for her 15^th win of the season. Irwin allowed just two hits and struck out 10 in the win. Setta had two hits for MU, while Johnston had the big blow with her home run. Chelsea Hazzard took the loss for AQ.

GAME TWO
Aquinas put up single runs in the first two innings of the night cap to take a 2-0 lead before the Crusaders pulled even in the third, scoring two of their own.

Smiley reached on a two-base error and moved to third on a single by Lesko. Lesko then stole second and both runners moved up – with Smiley scoring – on another wild pitch to make it 2-1 and put Lesko at third. Sidor drove in Lesko with a sac fly to right, making it 2-2 after the top of the third.

Just as fast as it was 2-2, AQ made it 5-2 by scoring three runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead back. Madonna cut the lead to 5-3 in the fifth as Setta reached on an error and after moving up on a pair of ground outs. Setta came home on a Scero knock to make it 5-3.

The Saints responded with three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a commanding 8-3 lead after five complete. The Crusaders got two back in the sixth as Johnston reached on an error to start the inning and promptly stole second. Danielle Richardson (Flint, Mich.) single to put runners at the corners for Rachael Kethe (Lennox, Mich.) and Kethe delivered a single to score Johnston and make it 8-4. MU made it 8-4. MU cut the lead to three when Smiley singled in Kethe.

AQ made it 10-5 with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth before things got interesting in the top of the seventh. Scero led off with a walk and was followed by a double from Sidor to put runners at second and third with no one out. Alyssa Flesser gave up a sac fly to Christina Finch (Albion, Mich.) to score Scero and make it 10-6, but Finch’s fly ball was the second out of the inning. Richardson then singled to put runners again on the corners for Ashley Shay (Garden City, Mich.) and the freshman right fielder took the Flesser offering over the fence for a three-run homer to cut the lead to just one at 10-9. Unfortunealty for MU, the rally ended there as Flesser was able to record the final out and give the Saints a split on the day.

Richardson and Sidor – who extended her hitting streak to 23 games today – had two hits each for MU while Shay drove in three. Flesser earned the win for AQ while Michelle Henning (Toledo, Ohio) took the loss for MU, falling to 2-2 on the season.

Madonna will now take four days off for final exams before swinging back into action next weekend with a double header at Cornerstone on Friday and another twin bill at Concordia on Sunday.