04/13/07

Senior pitcher Rilee Dawson helped lead the Saints (8-10, 2-0 UMAC) to a sweep of Northwestern College (6-15, 0-2) using her arm and bat as the Saints took game two of a doubleheader 2-1 over the Eagles on Friday afternoon in St. Paul.

Dawson led off the bottom of the second inning with a double, stole third, then came in to score the Saints' first run of the game three batters later when Mary Jo McNamee grounded out to first base.

St. Scholastica picked up an unearned run in the next inning that pushed the lead to two runs.

Dawson spread out 10 Eagles hits through seven innings of work and got out of jams with runners in scoring positions in the first, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings before Northwestern would score their lone run in the top of the seventh.

With the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on first with two down in the seventh, the Saints got the third out on a long fly ball to left that closed out the win for St. Scholastica.

Dawson allowed only one run over her seven innings on the mound, surrendering only one walk while striking out nine.

The Saints return to Duluth following their Friday sweep of the Eagles only to turn around and head back out on the road for a rare Sunday pair of games. The Saints and LumberJills of Northland College will play a doubleheader in Ashland, Wis., beginning at 1 p.m.