First Game
 
TUCSON, Ariz. – The Saint Francis softball team started the day with a 10-2 mercy-rule win over Mount St. Mary's on Saturday at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational.  The Red Flash had 10 hits in the contest.  SFU sealed the win with six runs in the bottom of the fifth.  It was the sixth mercy-rule win for Saint Francis this season as the team improved to 9-11.
 
Junior Ketarah DeVries (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) pitched a complete game, allowing two runs on four hits, while striking out five and walking two.  DeVries posted three consecutive shutout innings in the second through fourth innings.  DeVries improved to 2-1 this season.
 
Katie Olson took the loss for Mount St. Mary's.  She started the game and pitched four innings, giving up six runs, four earned, on seven hits, while striking out three and walking eight.  Erin Sweeney pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing four runs on three hits and walking two.
 
Sophomore Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) led the Red Flash offense with two hits, including a double, and four RBI.  Freshman Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) also had two hits and scored a run.  Freshman Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) had two RBI, with a hit and three runs scored.  Junior Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area), freshman Kassidy Troxell (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) and freshman McKenzie Burge (Osceola Mills, Pa./Phillipsburg-Osceola) each had one RBI. Freshman Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) scored two runs.
 
The Mount scored the first run of the game.  With two outs and the bases loaded, Rachel Gavigan drew a walk to allow Rachel Heinze to cross the plate in the top of the first.
 
The Red Flash answered with a run in the bottom of the first.  After walks by S. McKee and sophomore Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum), and a single by Norton, to start the inning, Bower singled to center to drive in McKee and tie the game at 1-1.
 
Saint Francis added a run in the bottom of the third.  The inning began with back-to-back walks drawn by Seneca and Bower.  Troxell followed with a single to score Seneca and give SFU a 2-1 lead.
 
Two more SFU runs crossed the plate in the bottom of the fourth.  With two outs and the bases loaded, Troxell reached on an error by the shortstop, which allowed C. McKee to score.  Cabell followed with a single to left to plate S. McKee.  The Red Flash held a 4-1 advantage after four innings.
 
Mount St. Mary's responded with a run in the top of the fifth on a two-out solo home run by Heinze to cut the SFU lead to 4-2.
 
Saint Francis clinched a mercy-rule win, exploding for six runs in the bottom of the fifth.  After a pinch-hit single by senior Kate Blattenberger (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) to leadoff the inning, another pinch-hitter, McKenzie Burge (Osceola Mills, Pa./Phillipsburg-Osceola), doubled to right-center to score Blattenberger.  Two batters later, Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) singled to center to score Burge and C. McKee.  With the bases loaded, Cabell roped a double to left center to clear the bases, with Kelsie Marconi (Lowber, Pa./Yough), S. McKee and Norton scoring to seal the win. 
 
Second Game
 
TUCSON, Ariz. – The Saint Francis softball team battled hard, but came up short in a 6-4 loss to No. 15 Arizona on Saturday night to close out the Wildcat Invitational.  The Red Flash tallied 12 hits and held a 2-0 lead through 3.5 innings, but the Wildcats used three home runs to take control of the game.  SFU is now 9-12 this season. Arizona improved to 14-6.
 
Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area) started the game for the Red Flash and re-entered the game in the fifth inning to pitch a total of 4.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and three walks.  Junior Ethel Santai (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove Area) threw 1.1 innings, giving up four runs, three earned, and three hits, while a strikeout and a walk.
 
Danielle O'Toole earned the win for Arizona, pitching six innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and striking out eight.  Nancy Bowling pitched an inning, allowing three hits and two runs.
 
Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) led the SFU offense with two hits, three RBI and a run scored, including her third home run of the season.  Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) and Kassidy Troxell (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) each had three hits and scored a run.  Troxell also drove in a run.  Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) also had a two hit day to join her fellow freshmen.
 
The Red Flash got the first two runs of the game in the top of the second.  With two outs and runners on second and third, C. McKee doubled down the left field line to score Troxell and Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson).  Troxell started the inning with a single and Witthus doubled two batters later to setup McKee. 
 
Arizona tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the fourth.  The Wildcats' Lauren Young led off the inning with a solo home run.  Later in the frame, with two outs and runners on first and third, Arizona ran a steal play, which resulted in Ashleigh Hughes scoring from third to even the score.
 
The Wildcats added three runs in the bottom of the fifth.  Katiyana Mauga gave Arizona the lead with a solo home run to left to start the inning.  Three batters later, Young hit her second homer of the game, this time a two-run shot to give the Wildcats a 5-2 lead.
 
Arizona put up another run in the bottom of the sixth on a leadoff homer by Mandie Perez.
 
The Red Flash rallied in the top of the seventh.  C. McKee started the inning by launching a home run to left.  S. McKee followed with a single and Norton doubled to center.  Two batters later, Bower was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Troxell then singled up the middle to score McKee.  However, Norton was thrown out at the plate trying to score.  A flyout by Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) ended the game.
 
The Red Flash makes its home debut, on the new turf field, next weekend against Cornell.  SFU will battle the Big Red in a doubleheader, beginning at Noon on Saturday.  The teams will play a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.